QI | Which Software Drove People To Violence?

[@BeingJapan]

“Where would we be without trees.” And Stephen looks at Alan as if Alan just thought up the most profound thought ever.

[@onlyontuesdays99]

I think he's genuinely fascinated by Alan's mind

[@jake-amirblumenfeldwitz6068]

it is pretty profound. cos pretty much nowhere would be the answer lol. cant use sticks to make fire if sticks dont exist. cant use sticks as handles for weapons or tools, cant build houses with wood, cant build ships so all that land discovering and trading etc wouldntve happened. would have to find or create totally different materials which couldve and probably wouldve slowed our progress enormously and human civilisation wouldnt be how it is today... so.

[@johnbrown15]

@@jake-amirblumenfeldwitz6068 that's kind of the joke, trees are crucial to human civilization but he chooses to employ the idea specifically to talk about the necessity of wooden clogs for destroying machines. the thought that we would be nowhere without trees isn't profound because it's quite obvious, but the comment's funny because it's employed in such a dumb way.

[@malahammer]

I thought Stephen was having a WTF moment!

[@markgearing]

I suspect that, for all Stephen’s education, Alan is probably smarter

[@stephendavis6894]

I have a friend in Sweden who inherited a house with a knitting factory in the cellar, with machines run by punchcards. He got it all working and would set the machines off in the morning before coming to work and go home to take loads of knitted jumpers from the machines, ready to be sewn together (fronts, backs and arms). He was still running it a couple of years ago.

[@Brasswatchman]

I was waiting for a punchline here, but it sounds like you're serious. So "house, with attached knitting factory"?

[@ravenhendershott1058]

Do you really think they'd be "fabricating" the story for a thumbs up?@@Brasswatchman

[@Brasswatchman]

@@ravenhendershott1058 I never said -- oh. OHHHH. 😆

[@drafezard7315]

I was hoping you were going to say it was running fine until some knob heads turned up and started throwing shoes at it. Now I'm imagining a pyphonesc sketch where they magically turn up like the Spanish inquisition whenever someone gets one working.

[@christopherdean1326]

@@drafezard7315 *pythonesque

[@TheBod76]

"Where would we be without trees?" ... :D

[@Rathkryn]

Sitting in chairs made of woven grass.

[@bobalina]

Up shit creek without a paddle

[@Aoderic]

Even worse off, because our ancestors would likely not have evolved into primates. We would be small creatures living in holes in the ground, like the Juramaia.

[@OriginalPiMan]

bobalina Probably without a boat as well.

[@siukong]

Aoderic Perhaps not. Other plants such as ferns, palms, succulents, cacti, etc could and would have evolved to fill the broad niche that trees fill. So although evolution on Earth would have been drastically different, it's possible that humans (or more accurately some loosely analogous species) could still have evolved.

[@djmoch1001]

That loomed tapestry of the inventor is quite remarkable. And the fact that such old technology was still being used well into the 20th century is just amazing to me.

[@MKR5210]

This is not meant as a personal criticism DJ, but society today seems to believe that unless something wasn't thought of/invented/developed in their life time it must be rubbish and be replaceable with something newer and better. That's just not true. Very often "improvements" use more resources or create more pollution.

[@RosesAndIvy]

@@MKR5210 So true! Some people seem to think that anything invented before the 20th century is practically medieval.

[@jennyjohn704]

@@MKR5210 'Society' doesn't believe any such thing. It isn't what DJ meant either. That machines from long ago are still in use is remarkable. That's not a put down of older technology, but rather it is a compliment. Stop making up bad stuff about people who are younger than you.

[@AlanCanon2222]

I've seen one of those Jacquard portraits, I think in the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, next to the patent model for the loom that made it. Both are exquisite objects. It's so weird to think that we still have digital images, rendered in thread, from the 1700s. Then the near computer revolution of the 1830s, and then damn near nothing more impressive for 100 years.

[@donrobertson4940]

Just so typical that Jacquard is scarcely remembered and Ada Lovelace steals all the credit.

[@satnitcboy]

"where would we be without trees?" Thank you, Alan, for bringing that discussion back to earth.

[@moramento22]

Mr. Software...

[@michaelritchie2968]

Stephen's face is priceless

[@Kirsten_is_cursed10]

Mr. Jeremiah Software 😂

[@djmoch1001]

".....so disappointing."

[@Asidders]

"Software was invented in 1998 by Mr. Henry Software." - Little Britain, probably

[@phippskat]

I'm struggling not to laugh out loud in public!

[@bremCZ]

Alan's monologue "I haven't said anything for a while..."

[@sunnyjim1355]

Oo, blue whale!

[@danochy5522]

Anyone that loves Stephen Fry explaining things should definitely listen to his podcast called _Stephen Fry's Great Leap Years._

[@ida_sleeps]

Thanks!

[@boredincan]

You can hear him read Mythos, his own novel on Classical Mythology

[@fallingcrane1986]

Can’t wait for the next installment, Stephen Fry’s Great Leap Forward

[@NibberKSmooth]

Is it so called because it takes him a leap year to explain one point?

[@Orion3741]

4:22 - the expression on Stephen's face... Priceless. Thank goodness for Alan.

[@NewMessage]

* Clippy pops up * "It looks like you are trying to begin a homicidal rampage... Do you need assistance?"

[@HaloInverse]

Well, I wasn't _planning_ on starting one, but you've already changed my mind, Clippy.

[@alexrichardson1226]

Never thought to see a Superhero Movie joke on this video but okay lol

[@MatthewSpencerKociol]

I think it's quite amazing to think that, the steam engine was created to help mine coal but then it led to the creation of trains that helped facilitate the coal mining industry even further, and then steam powered engines allowed for automation in general, even if you weren't near a river with a mill. In any case, steam powered the earliest looms, but in order for looms to be extra useful we needed a "programmer" to produce "code" on a punch card machine for loom patterns, and computation was involved as well, and this was all generations before the first electronic computer ( I wouldn't be surprised if an abacus was involved here and there) . It's all just something to keep in mind today, that when something new is invented but it doesn't seem to have an incredibly broad usage, just wait a 100 years or so and it might be incredibly useful in the next technology leap.

[@sasukesarutobi3862]

What's even more amazing is that early miniature steam engines were built by an inventor named Hero who lived in Alexandria around 10-70 AD. He built them using earlier descriptions of such devices, but they were only really seen as a novelty and not scaled up. He also made the first vending machine, which was a device that dispensed a dose of holy water when you put a coin into a slot at the top of it, after which the coin dropped into a basket, and the lever it had pushed down sprang back up for the dispenser to be used again.

[@trueaussie9230]

I hate to nit pick but the earliest looms were not steam driven. They were manually powered.

[@GedMaybury23]

A friend of mine is an engineer, and he basically invented a device that would automatically cut off high-voltage circuits during a surge - then on again once the system was safe. (Siemens bought him out) Anyway, as I expressed my admiration he quickly stopped me. He said, very simply: "I was already standing on the shoulders of giants." Those giants can be traced back into prehistory. The first to fracture flint and discover a knife. The first to plant a seed.The first to scoop up and carry water in an animal skin. Waaay down that line from there was Issac Newton, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, Hedy Lamarr, Richard Pearse ... .. and you and me. No-one is ever working alone.

[@AlanCanon2222]

100 years is a good figure, it's roughly the length of time from Babbage to the first two or three working automatic programmable digital computers.

[@donrobertson4940]

@@GedMaybury23 Newton was the first to say he was standing on the shoulders of giants. Apparently his main rival was quite short, and Newton wanted to piss him off. Genius is no guarantee against pettiness.

[@thegeneralissimo470]

I am convinced that Alan is high for all of these shows

[@nriab23]

it's an act.... he was told to act stupid to be relatable but it's annoying

[@urmama54]

would be far more entertaining (and people like him) if he went ham for a change... but alas, broadcasting conformity dictates his pay.

[@paulmichaelfreedman8334]

@@nriab23 He does have slightly slurred speech most of the time but that could have many causes.

[@gerardmcguire6083]

I think u might b on to something

[@randomsandwichian]

All those blue whale withdrawal...

[@hexxon77]

1:01 Alan is like (still is) a naughty school boy and Stephen is like loving, wise teacher.

[@MrRoelrc1]

is it a happy coincidence that software is called software, when the first machine that used software made soft wares?

[@Wabajak13]

Heck if I know

[@paulallen579]

Whoa, I felt so high reading this.

[@falconx50]

From Britannica.com: "The term was coined to differentiate these instructions from hardware-i.e., the physical components of a computer system. A set of instructions that directs a computer’s hardware to perform a task is called a program, or software program."

[@MegaBanne]

I think originally hardware is practical items. Like tools, ingredients or building blocks/materials. Software is information instead. Like blueprints, recipes or texts. The software is usually the instructions to the hardware. In computing the hardware is the tool while the software is the instructions for the usage of the tool. The terminology probably dates back to when computer where programmed at the spot by the use of code on paper or punching cards. When you design software you do not change anything with the hardware. You just write code. Then the code is compiled/translated over to the hardware.

[@russellzero6192]

@@falconx50 p

[@formulafreak2]

Oh David Mitchell you legend

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

"Old Jebediah Software!"

[@acledfloyd]

But can it run Doom?

[@Kundalini12]

Erik Harker don’t you mean Crysis

[@foobar201]

I suppose it would need a couple hours to weave a frame, and you would need to add extra bits for the control logic, but in theory it's possible

[@jorgepeterbarton]

Jacquard Doom?

[@acledfloyd]

I always liked Wolfenstine 3D better.

[@CreationWorkbench]

Thats all nice and good, but can you open a second tab on chrome with it?

[@celticecho]

My children are related to Ada Lovelace through her grandmother. I was connected through marriage, but I’m divorced now. My daughter loves her familial connection to Ada and Lord Byron!

[@nunyanunya4147]

Sara: amusing anecdote about modern life *light chortle* vicker: filthy quip followed by scholarly knowledge. *polite awe* Alan: something a 5 y/o would say. *raucous laughter*

[@bobbobbity463]

@@nunyanunya4147 someone* else's* grammar* spelling*

[@nunyanunya4147]

@Hell Bro shalom i forgive you too

[@nacnud_]

@Hell Bro Fascinating. And, well, weird.

[@Koreviking]

*vicar.

[@Koreviking]

You obviously didn’t learn the first time, then.

[@production749]

Stephen's disappointed face, when Alan says "Mr. Software" pleaaaseee😭😭🤚🤚 they're so adorable 🥺

[@welshbrxnches]

The reduction in Stephen's pride in alans wit and shame he felt in 1:04 was completely spun round by the astonishing point Alan made at 4:23 🤣🤣🤣. I really do enjoy this show

[@patrickkeller2193]

KZbin recommend suddenly started throwing British TV shows at me and I'm like, "why?" and then "OMG, why not 10 years ago?"

[@qwertyTRiG]

Have you yet discovered Taskmaster? They're now putting full episodes on KZbin.

[@TAB8787]

Same here bro!! It’s the best!!

[@medievalist]

Hope you've discovered Would I Lie To You and 8 Out Of 10 Cats :)

[@Ansible1000]

Judging by your profile picture I am amazed it wasn’t sooner.

[@dross2172]

Same here. I never knew any of the shows on Brit TV and all of a sudden WILTY showed up. If you haven't seen it yet, a good starter episode to watch is "Mitchellian rants and outbursts". They are logical, reasoned and funny as hell. I've not seen them all yet but so far all the episodes of Would I Lie To You have been great.

[@maxbateman1099]

This was genuinely quite interesting

[@Jotari]

That was possible the most interesting segment I've ever seen on QI.

[@eoincampbell1584]

Yeah they managed to fit the history of computing, the history of textiles, the origin of two different words, and some good ol' fashioned Lord Byron(he shows up so often he should have his own segment) all in one question!

[@Zeropathic1]

One might even say it was quite interesting.

[@SuperDeadknife]

you may say it was quite interesting

[@milkyjoe2729]

unfortunately wrong : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabotage

[@chatteyj]

I disagree I zoned out.

[@mathieuL2204]

I am French and I had no idea that sabotage came from sabot... Truly a quite interesting (and funny) segment!

[@trueaussie9230]

Do you not speak French?! I thought the French education system was a good one.

[@AlanCanon2222]

When English stole the word from French, we also stole the documentation, no wonder you didn't know!

[@petejammo88]

According to Wikipedia the word sabotage does come the shoe, sabot, but not because disgruntled workers threw them in to machines but rather from the noise and clumsiness associated with the shoe

[@thehellyousay]

It is a French word, after all.

[@thehellyousay]

@@petejammo88 and any jerk can mess with Wikipedia's information base. That error has undoubtedly been corrected a couple of times in the past, and will be again.

[@kieran10202]

Is that where the phrase "it's clogged" comes from?

[@badabhoot194]

Ahh

[@TheLenmae]

No, that appears to come from "clay"

[@jumbo4billion]

No, because it isn't true. The research on this show is pretty bad.

[@klaxoncow]

No, but in a just universe, that's totally where it ought to have come from.

[@4ndyr0g3r50n]

Yes, as nobody has ever thrown jam into a printer.

[@megaflux7144]

most impressed that they got through an origins of computers segment withOUT bringing up turing.

[@sandelic1]

When Stephen Fry talks, everyone listens. Like he's giving a really good sermon.

[@shestewa6581]

Well most of the time. Often the panel are too busy trying to crack a million and one jokes to actually pay attention to the relevance of what he's saying

[@nriab23]

@@shestewa6581 especially alan when he has a toy or device to play and act the fool with... i.e voodoo doll. annoying prick

[@callumj6142]

Aaaaaah! I love Stephem. I did not realise how much I miss him on our TV screens so frequently, until His show about the 21st century came on NYD.

[@greenredblue]

Stephen: "Which software drove people to violence?" Me: _"Clippy?!"_ Stephen: "No. As a hint, Ada Lovelace owed a great debt to this person who happened to be her father..." Me: "al-Khwarizmi?!" Stephen. *"NO."*

[@sohamdas]

Can we have 24 hours of Stephen Fry talking about history, science and anything that appeals to him. It's would be so fascinating to have him as your teacher!

[@twrampage]

With Alan there to divert the conversation randomly, every so often.

[@krishnajain4391]

Buy his audiobooks

[@sohamdas]

@@krishnajain4391 Does Fry have audiobooks on history/science?

[@krishnajain4391]

@@sohamdas He's not much of a scientist, but he is obsessed with Greek mythology. His Mythos series is great.

[@SvenTviking]

“ Sabot” as in APFSDS, “Armour Piercing Fin Stabilised Discarding Sabot”

[@Adheesh02]

That laugh you hear in the background when Alan says Mr Software is quite interesting XD

[@jessicalee333]

I remember learning about the origin of the word "sabotage" from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

[@TheTambourinist]

The problem is the explanation is not true. Honestly, one could assume that even thinking about it. Shoes used to be expensive, no way people would waste them throwing them at anything.

[@Boyzby]

@@TheTambourinist TVs are also expensive, but people get mad at stuff and break them too.

[@trueaussie9230]

@@TheTambourinist In the 1700s wooden shoes - sabot - were worn by the poor working class. As such they were not expensive and were often made by the wearer themselves or a family member. However, the saboteurs - ie the workers wearing sabot - irreprably damaged the looms by means other than throwing their shoes. Throwing a shoe into the works would only temporarily disable a loom.

[@AlanCanon2222]

Hell yeah, me too, love me some Star Trek and VI is a good one, after the mess that was V.

[@JxH]

"Which Software Drove People To Violence?" Ah, SAP perhaps?

[@CyberEJ]

This is one for a niche audience

[@dielaughing73]

Jeepers, SAP improved our lives no end after we switched from Ellipse

[@Skullair313]

My bet would have been Excel

[@muesli_snipes]

Fifa

[@MeppyMan]

MS Access

[@AKABoondock19]

Im a simple man. I see David Mitchell in a thumbnail and I click.

[@tjfSIM]

@@sierraromeoromeo2444 'you're simple' - but yes, it is really annoying that people can't be a bit more imaginative, instead of endlessly regurgitating the same 'meme' type comment formats. The hackneyed 'legend has it', or 'nasa called, they want their computer back', or 'I'm a simple man...', or 'that moment when....'. Everything has to be a meme nowadays.

[@CatrionaCharles]

Boondock I liked your comment then unliked it because, although I find the majority of the statement to be true for me, I’m a woman. I need to like all of something to click like 😆

[@3allz]

@@tjfSIM Dont forget the "Me: I think this", "Someone: blah blah blah", "Me: witty remark". Meme culture has got everyone thinking theyre a comedian when the truth is, knowing when to stop milking it is what makes a great comedian.

[@tjfSIM]

@@3allz You're absolutely right. I can't add anything to that, you hit the nail on the head :)

[@rezalucien9325]

@@sierraromeoromeo2444 I like you.

[@lare290]

2:53 world's first pixel art done on a computer.

[@beth12svist]

Perunavallankumous Probably not the first, actually - one of the regular jacquard patterns probably received that honour.

[@RFC3514]

Also, the looms weren't computers, they didn't have memory and couldn't do any calculations (they just happened to use punch cards, which were later adopted for computers).

[@kricku]

@@RFC3514 Punch cards are totally ROMs

[@RFC3514]

@kricku - So are books. That doesn't make them computers. Unless a machine can follow instructions to store data and use it later (either for other calculations or for flow control - i.e., to decide _which_ part of the program to execute next), it's not a computer in the modern sense of the word. Incidentally, Babbage never actually made (or even finished designing) a computer. The Difference Engine (which he never built but did design) was just a fixed-function calculator. His "computer" would have been the Analytical Engine, but that never came close to existing, and was basically forgotten. I'd still acknowledge him as the first CPU architect (and Ada Lovelace as the first software engineer, with some credit to Luigi Menabrea, whose work she used as a starting point), but only in a chronological sense. The first actual functioning mechanical computers were developed independently from their work.

[@alliedatheistalliance6776]

2:46 the way Sarah looks at Stephen is how much I want to be loved by someone

[@nocalsteve]

Sometimes Alan is like intellectual ballast to keep the show from getting too pedantic.

[@AL-fl4jk]

He also came up with “Mr Software” 😂

[@brianfinnegan664]

I've learned so much watching this show. Love Fry btw

[@Lightning_Lance]

Yes, I see. In comparison to clogs, shoes would be "soft wear".

[@Ometecuhtli]

Making your hardware unusable for far longer than it makes it work for you.

[@cynthiahogan4598]

As a Cynthia, I can tell you it's very common for people to hit the u on the keyboard (right next to the y) accidentally. Makes for some hilarious correspondence. Or perhaps not accidental?

[@Name-ps9fx]

This show is funny (hilariously so) and quite informative.

[@kyuubikira]

Aww, Alan. Bless.

[@apjtv2540]

1:03 I've never seen such a visible representation for the phrase "Oh, for pity's sake!".

[@effyleven]

2:50. It IS a digital image, like a photograph. It is just that its pixels are woven from different tones of thread, instead of different densities of pigmented ink.

[@archiescriven6178]

Me,being fluent in french,never relised that Sabo is a shoe, has now got an image of Challenger tank firing wooden shoes at a 1000ms

[@peterweatherley7669]

Archie Scriven Gives an entirely new meaning to ‘left, right, left, right’ hehehe

[@Punnikin1969]

Did you realize that it's spelled "sabot", since you're so fluent? There is so much wrong with this sentence, but I thought this was the part that should be corrected.

[@gerryjtierney]

@@Punnikin1969 how embarrassing

[@kjamison5951]

Archie Scriven Except… a sabot is not a shoe, it is specifically a wooden clog type of footwear. Footwear is a generic term but shoe is quite specific in the range of items it describes. A wellington boot is an item of footwear but it is not a shoe.

[@marklawes1859]

Would not want be hit by a clog at 1000 m/s. That could spoil even quite a good day.

[@mrav8r]

“ Where would we be without trees.” Stephen Fry looking dumbfounded and speechless!

[@softgrungewitch]

What's really interesting is that in at least a couple of places around the world people still use punch card systems for their weaving machines, especially if they produce on a small scale, presumably because the machines are cheaper & they have a lot of experience with them.

[@trueaussie9230]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. There are .many people in the world who still use manual looms, ie no punched cards, on a commercial basis. There are MANY people in the world who are not as spoiled as those in 'developed' countries. They don't have the finances to rush out and buy the 'latest model' of ANYTHING. While they are struggling to put food on their table a 'middle man' will buy their product for peanuts and sell it to the privileged people of the 'developed' countries for an exorbitant mark up. And the privileged people in one day will throw away more food than the underprivileged worker will have in one week.

[@AlanCanon2222]

Makes sense, they stopped making floppy disks a long time ago but blank card stock is forever: this civilization is never going to stop manufacturing it.

[@christopherbartko6042]

Although it's Alan and most of the things he says are ignored or in jest, "Where would we be without trees?" is actually a very good question. Wood has always been used for shelter, certain clothing or making clothing, handles for weapons and tools-- people talk about the advancements of the bronze age and progressing into iron, but the handles for those bronze and iron weapons- wood (or bone, I'll allow), the mines- supported by wooden beams, carts for transporting the ores and the finished products- wood (until the industrial age I suppose.) Even back when we were living in caves, we burned wood to keep warm. You could burn peat, I suppose (though stinky), but primarily, everything was- and nearly still is- wood. Good job, Alan.🤣

[@AlanCanon2222]

"Stone was all my old dad ever needed..." -- Mitchell and Webb: "Bronze Orientation"

[@christopherbartko6042]

@@AlanCanon2222 I remember that one 😂

[@oldcougar65]

I sold a software package to a police department in the 90's. This was the Windows 3.0 era, I think. I got an urgent call from the police chief who said that all the reports had his name spelled wrong. No matter what he did, it spelled his name wrong. I traveled 3 hours to his office and found a smart-assed officer of his had gone into MS Office and changed the spell checker to automatically correct the spelling of the chief's name to something wrong. Funny. I drove 6 hours round trip for a 2 minute fix.

[@GedMaybury23]

Was that police chief called Clancy Wiggum, by any chance?

[@oldcougar65]

@@GedMaybury23 no names!

[@Dudemon-1]

Back in the DOS era, someone in my department was changing the programmable keyboards to type "DEL *.*Y" when a specific key was hit (different every time).

[@oldcougar65]

@@Dudemon-1 Worse: Back in the DOS 1.0 era ----you had to buy your hard drive from an alternative maker, IBM wasn't even making a hard drive but made the only PC. You spent a long time working with floppy (I mean FLOPPY) drives. And you needed to FORMAT each one. However, if you keyed FORMAT with no drive letter, it defaulted to C: Several times I forgot to key FORMAT A: and my C: drive began to be reformated. Fun times.

[@Dudemon-1]

@@oldcougar65 -- Oh, no! Yeah, I remember those days, too, and I think I made that error once.

[@lucabaracuda987]

the end bit about trees.. just makes me laugh over and over

[@skippymagrue]

We have fabric at the quilt shop I work at and there are little icons for their discovery. They have a loom card with the name Lovelace next to it.

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

“Love lace” ... heh.

[@jonathanbibby812]

Is that where the term 'clogged' comes from?

[@JallenMeodia]

No oddly. Clogge is a middle English word meaning "lump of wood". To stop cattle from straying farmers would attach wood to their feet; or to put it another way, clogged up. Which is also why clogs, wooden shoes, are called such in English

[@TheSuperQuail]

Jallen That is quite interesting

[@Yeesha0000]

Jallen thank you, that was informative AND quite interesting ;)

[@Widdekuu91]

Slightly related info, in Dutch the clogs are called klompen. One clog is a klomp. A klomp is also a chunk of something, usuall rounded up, like a klomp (or homp) clay or a klomp hardened fat or other materials. It's a bit oldfashioned though, today's youth would've wrecked the sentence and gone; 'Eh..that's like...a lot of..a pile or something, of claystuff.'

[@yorickhunt3371]

+Widdekuu91 i.e., "clump" in English.

[@TheNeverposts]

Stephen Fry might have overlooked a career in Trivia literature

[@JoshSweetvale]

This *is* a career in trivia literature. He just puts it everywhere else, too.

[@siggyincr7447]

Befitting the shows name, this was quite interesting to me. I always associated wooden clogs with the Dutch, but of course they were probably common throughout Europe when leather shoes were probably far too expensive for the working class.

[@RD19902010]

not only a matter of price, clogs are just far more practical when walking through marshlands

[@trueaussie9230]

Wooden shoes were common in parts of England. They are cheaper and easier to make and more durable than leather or cloth. They can be made by even a semi-skilled (for the times) 'handyman'.

[@chrisandersen3213]

I got to use punched cards with a computer when I was studying IT many moons ago. I forget what the machine was now. But I learned programming on a VAX/VMS system that used a chain printer.......

[@chrisandersen3213]

@TheBravesirobin Nice!

[@annother3350]

The saboteurs were easy to spot with one shoe on!!

[@Hawk_of_Battle]

Probably easy to catch too, hard to run in 1 clog!

[@syedmohsin18]

Not if they distroyed two looms.

[@annother3350]

@@syedmohsin18 'this factory has a clog policy -- anybody caught with bare feet shall be hanged...'

[@presstodelete1165]

Jaquard also made the firtst prcision lathes which arguably was far more important. The extension of measurement/precision mirrors leaps in living standards rather well.

[@fortifiedmentality8067]

Stephen's face at the end. 😂

[@markcarey8426]

Well I never knew that bit about saboteurs.

[@thomasnorry9974]

We saw these looms used for making saris in Varanasi 10 years ago.

[@thomasnorry9974]

You can still see these Jacquard looms employed in Varanasi, India where they are used for making saris.

[@clairerobertson1288]

David Mitchell at peak attractiveness here IMO

[@GigaBoost]

That open button shirt 😍

[@nriab23]

but he's in his 40s

[@Nisah98]

@@nriab23 he looks pretty good for someone in his 40s then

[@balrogdahomie]

Mister software!!🎵 Write me some code~🎵 They make it say~🎵 Hello world I’m told~🎵

[@cybergeek11235]

On line two there, is a syntax er-ror!~ You'll be debugging that shit! for! ever!~

[@hankwilliams150]

When he mentioned show auto-correct can drive you crazy I was reminded of the sentence I saw that said "Auto-correct is your worst enema".

[@presstodelete1165]

Jaquard also made a precision lathe, possible at the time of far more significance. The devlopment of precission maps mass wealth accross the world.

[@millomweb]

It's most likely Jacquard looms controlled by holes in cards are still in use today and will be for decades to come. Just because we have cars doesn't mean horse riding is no longer done.

[@RubenTheCartographer]

I think he means on like a proper scale. Not for the fun of it and because it's interesting.

[@sammy167]

@@RubenTheCartographer we were still using card jacquard Axminster looms to weave carpet commercially in 2001. Then we converted the last of the looms to electronic jacquard. Very labour intensive and gradually all moved offshore.

[@greycatmon]

2:13 That person had a hell of a sneeze.

[@samgab]

Wow, I learned so much from this snippet! Sabotage! Who knew.

[@mooalijasmine]

I am now going to use this sentence for the end of seemingly ongoing conversation. “Where would we be without trees.”

[@Wh0isTh3D0ct0r]

I first learned about this from the movie _Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country_ .

[@kaygee301]

This was seriously quite interesting!

[@tomatoplantsgonewild1470]

Alan's comment, "Where would we be without trees?" Sounds like a song title.

[@Blissful_Simp]

I think Stephen is getting driven to violence by Alan😂😂

[@MagnificentFiend]

Could have added that Byron spoke in defence of the framebreakers, who had similar grievances to the saboteurs, in the House of Lords.

[@spicytunah8043]

“Where would we be without trees?” Probably somewhere deep in the ocean amongst the blue whale

[@blessedbees4247]

SpicyTunah Brilliant comment ! Best I’ve read all day.

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

*Klaxon*

[@mikesmith-pj7xz]

Me: Customer Support? CS: Please hold. Me: Cynthia!

[@StefanBacon]

I think those looms are still operating in the suburbs of Hanoi.

[@StonyRC]

I fucking LOVE QI ... you can learn so much from a TV programme that is so damn funny!!!!

[@puirYorick]

The 1978 Connections television series with James Burke did a bit on the Jacquard loom in the fourth episode called "Faith in Numbers" so I actually knew about this for once. The word sabot also describes a type of enhanced projectile ammunition.

[@mojosbigsticks]

There's a village in Southern France where, legend has it, a young man caught his fiancé with another lover, slaughtered them both, and walked back to town with their hearts pierced on the long pointed toes of his wooden clogs.

[@dozog]

That man is not a legend. And I doubt wooden clogs had such pointed toes.

[@brottarnacke]

It also makes you wonder where the term "sabot" as in the system for sub caliber ammunition comes from.

[@learningtobeme5195]

Saboteurs "clogged" the machines... 🤣 That's fantastic!

[@katfoster845]

Northerners also wore (and still wear) wooden soled clogs. There is still a traditional factory in Mytholmroyd (try and pronounce that one Americans) that produces all kinds of clogs. They will even custom make you some to fit your feet.

[@marycanary86]

1:03 one of the moments where stephen considered taking up religion, just so hed have a god to pray to for the strength to deal with alan xD

[@WalterLiddy]

I have to say, this is actually quite interesting.

[@pamcandas]

the fine line between trivia and knowledge

[@nasekiller]

there is no line between them. trivia is knowledge.

[@oricalu448]

I misinterpreted the question and my first thought was JavaScript, and you know what. I stand by my answer.

[@KarimDavisFilms]

Came for the jokes, stayed for the knowledge !

[@jimmyusee]

"Why did he drive people to violence" by playing that bloody banjo nonstop, (sat on the floor in picture). 👍 😂

[@TheOfficialCzex]

Is that portrait the first computer rendering?

[@dielaughing73]

Looked kind of recent

[@zetetick395]

"Where would we be without trees?" - Alan, asking the questions that are on everyone's lips @__@

[@MrAudienceMember2662015]

I recall a certain student of Spock’s explaining “sabotage” to Chekov and Uhura in ‘The Undiscovered Country’.

[@vonn4017]

wrong..it was the younger female vulcan that explained it

[@MrAudienceMember2662015]

@@vonn4017 She was Spock’s student at the academy.

[@vonn4017]

@@MrAudienceMember2662015 and that matters becuase...... im still right, shr said the line not spock checkmate

[@MrAudienceMember2662015]

@@vonn4017 I didn’t say that Spock said it. Idiot.

[@jwvandegronden]

Utterly off topic, but love the watch David is wearing. For a second I thought we were wearing the same watch, which for some inexplicably weird reason really exited me and made me happy! But why though? Am I that shallow? Apparently ;-)

[@richardmclaren8549]

Is this where the expression "to clog up the works" comes from. 😮

[@kennyn1992]

They fought software with wood. Stiff resistance, but a futile let down was always, can't resist, looming.

[@gary3561]

The good Rev R Coles hails from Northhamptonshire. Where shoes were and are still made. The Rugby or Football club is nicknamed "the cobblers"

[@blockpartyrobotleague]

I don't know if it's true, but I've heard the reason people don't smile in old-timey photos was because the long exposure of the camera meant they had to stay perfectly still for quite a while. So, people back then were probably far less solemn than we'd assume they were from looking at their photos.

[@TesserId]

There was an old man named Jacquard who got famous for punching a placard. But when he got wired, he'd find he was tired. And, soon he'd be way too knackered.

[@Vashtanerada477]

The whole “throwing of sabots into the machines” is a great story, but it’s not etymologically correct. The term was first used to refer to people jostling around and making a fuss, i.e. “making noise with sabots”. For a while it just referred to someone who made sabots, but by the end of the 19th century it was used by certain socialist and syndicalist sects to refer to intentionally bungling work, or conducting a work stoppage (i.e. standing around idly/ineffectually, with one’s sabots not moving or making any noise).

[@HansLemurson]

Are you telling me I can't depend on episodes of _Star Trek: The Next Generation_ to supply me with my etymological trivia?

[@AlanCanon2222]

@@HansLemurson and Star Trek VI.