get with the program

In 1804 a French guy named Joseph Marie Jacquard patented a machine that when attached to a loom allowed the automated weaving of complex patterns by storing the commands for changing colors of thread on a stack of cards with holes punched in them. That’s the same concept that was used later on to make the rolls for player pianos, and even later the IBM cards that provided early computer data storage. Every once in a great while a new technology comes along that profoundly changes our culture in the same way that holograms, quadraphonic sound, and VR goggles haven’t.