Member-only story
The Calculator of Lost Senses
Humans just want to have fun.
Attempted repair by unauthorized persons voids warranty.
What they don’t know can’t hurt them, right? If it fits, I can charge it.
What have we lost by letting ourselves get lost in the massively overpowered bits that bring us video over Ta Interwebs without hesitation?
This calculator was made in England in 1974 by Commodore, LTD. It doesn’t hesitate to calculate 2⁶⁴ (the number of parallel instruction bits your new phone can handle) with the press of 4 buttons. It was designed on the tail end of the age of slide rule engineering. The people who designed it chose the buttons, the colors, the arrangement and the functionality based on useful, practical work. Unlike the expensive ‘Maths’ specialties of the day made by Texas Instruments and Hewlett Packard, it doesn’t “click” every time you press a button. Working in the subdued professional offices where people are concentrating, these engineers didn’t want to add stress to their coworkers or break their concentration. Those coworkers might be building a plane they would fly on one day. Imperial students were to be seen, not heard.
