Rudder and jacquard loom: what they have in common

  1. Step 1. Rudder — is part of — Sailing ship. A steering wheel.
  2. Step 2. Sailing ship — uses — Mercator projection. Navigating along straight rhumb lines.
  3. Step 3. Mercator projection — uses — Gutenberg printing press. Maps were printed in large numbers.
  4. Step 4. 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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