Charles Petzold

From the clash of thermodynamics, geology, and evolution, the era of analog computing was born. (Note: a reference to "two thousand feet" at about 5:35 in the video should of course be "two thousand miles.")

57 minutes.

We live in a universe whose natural processes are analog; yet we choose to model those processes on digital computers. Does this make sense? If digital technologies are so great, why do we increasingly hide digital computation under fluid and bouncy user interfaces? If analog computers are so lame, why are they also so clever, so elegant, and so fascinating?

56 minutes.