On 30/09/2011 03:14 AM, Patrick Elliott wrote:

> Depending on your definition of "computer"

There is that too.

Turing-completeness is a reasonable definition, until you consider that 
a sheet of paper and a pen is Turing-complete given a suitable human to 
operate it. So perhaps the significant thing is the sophistication of 
computations that the device can perform without human aid.

> there is evidence of a one
> of a kind "Roman" device that was capable of predicting eclipses, and
> timing the correct date to start the Olympic games, among other
> features.

Last I heard, nobody had decided exactly what that device was for. It 
seems opinions have changed...

> In other words, an electronic calender.

I think you mean /automated/ calendar. It's only /electronic/ if it 
operates by moving electrons around. :-P

> But, at that time,
> such things where nearly impossible to replicate, so when the ship it
> was one sank...

We're talking about something from a /long/ time ago. The fact that no 
others have been found yet doesn't mean none existed.

> Arguably, its gearing system had to have some sort of "algorithm".

By that description, the way that trees use the laws of physics to move 
exactly the right amount of water from their roots to their leaves could 
be considered an "algorithm". Which would mean that algorithms predate 
mankind by several billion years...

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