Season 2 · Episode 3
December 16, 2025
16:27
Jacquard's Web
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In this episode of Internet Origins, we explore Jacquard's Web by James Essinger. Long before computers processed data or the internet connected the world, a French silk weaver invented a loom controlled by punched cards, creating the first programmable machine and the foundational logic of modern computing.
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Transcript
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[00:00:00] There's a single thread connecting the silk brocades of 18th century Lyon
[00:00:05] to the smartphone in your pocket. It runs through Napoleon's France,
[00:00:09] across the Atlantic
