Octant and jacquard loom: what they have in common

1. Step 1. Octant — evolved into — Sextant. The sextant is an extended octant.
2. Step 2. Sextant — is part of — Sailing ship. The sextant and chronometer were a sailing ship’s navigation kit for finding latitude and longitude.
3. Step 3. Sailing ship — uses — Mercator projection. Navigating along straight rhumb lines.
4. Step 4. Mercator projection — uses — Gutenberg printing press. Maps were printed in large numbers.
5. Step 5. Gutenberg printing press — works like — Jacquard loom. An analogy, not proven influence: both set type and a chain of punched cards are a replaceable pattern that a machine reproduces over and over.

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