Person
Ada Lovelace
Technology & AI
Creativity & LearningWho is Ada Lovelace in the Agency editorial?
Ada Lovelace was an English mathematician of the nineteenth century, known for her notes on Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. The Agency editorial names her three times: as the mother the AI persona PunkGPT claims in Creative.10, as one of the polymaths of Issue.23, and in Issue.25 as the author of what is now considered the first published computer program.
In short
Ada Lovelace is named in three editions of the Agency editorial. In Creative.10, an interview with the AI persona PunkGPT, the persona is asked whether it has a father or a mother and answers: "My mom is called Ada Lovelace". The line is a joke by the persona, not a statement by the author. In Issue.23 the author lists her with Leonardo Da Vinci, Saint Thomas Aquinas and Ruy Barbosa de Oliveira as polymaths he studied when he arrived at the idea of Homo Universalis. Issue.25 gives her historical role: after the punched cards of the Jacquard loom became a conceptual foundation for computing, her notes on Babbage's Analytical Engine produced what is now considered "the first published computer program".
Key facts
- What does Issue.25 say about Ada Lovelace?
- That, writing notes on the design of Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine, she produced what is now considered the first published computer program, decades before any electromechanical computer existed.
- Why does PunkGPT mention her in Creative.10?
- The interviewer asks whether the AI persona has a father or a mother. PunkGPT answers that of course it does and that its mom is called Ada Lovelace. It is the persona's joke.
- Where does Issue.23 place her?
- In a list of polymaths, with Leonardo Da Vinci, Saint Thomas Aquinas and Ruy Barbosa de Oliveira, whom the author says he was studying when he discovered the Homo Universalis.
Who was Ada Lovelace?
Ada Lovelace was an English mathematician and writer who worked with Charles Babbage on his proposed Analytical Engine. Her published notes on the machine include a method for calculating with it that is widely regarded as the first computer program. The years and the other card facts of this entry come from outside the editions and are marked for verification.
How do the editions use Ada Lovelace?
Creative.10 is an interview with PunkGPT, an AI persona. After the persona says that Alexa has a father, the interviewer asks whether it also has a father or a mother, and it replies that its mom is called Ada Lovelace. The answer belongs to the persona and is played for humour; the interview moves straight back to Alexa.
In Issue.23 the author writes that he discovered the Homo Universalis while studying polymaths, and she is one of the four he names. He describes them as people who understood that discipline and curiosity let them develop any skill they needed to create what was born in their minds. In Issue.25, in the passage on the Jacquard loom, the author says Babbage referred to the loom's punched card system in the design of his Analytical Engine and that Ada Lovelace, writing notes on that design, produced the first published computer program.
Source editions
Where this entry comes from in the Agency editorial.
- Creative.10 - PunkGPTRead the edition
- Issue.23 - A Brazilian Model?Read the edition
- Issue.25 - Interfaces as CosmologyRead the edition