There is nothing complex about the mechanism devised by Boole: it calls for two opposite logic states, “true” and “false,” 0 and 1, “cyan” and “purple,” 999 and 999 ½. The actual meaning, the physical representation, and the medium are irrelevant; what matters is the arbitrarily chosen convention that assigns certain states of the medium to a specific set of logic values.

Computers as we know them use two different voltage levels in an electronic circuit and interpret them as values their designers refer to as 0 and 1. These values, which are carried through the electric circuit, represent two digits in the binary system—but nothing is stopping a person from using just about any method to convey the data, from water flow, to chemical reactions, to smoke signals, to torques transmitted by a set of masterfully crafted wooden gears. The information remains the same, regardless of its carrier.

The key to implementing Boolean logic in the physical world is simple, once we agree on the physical representation of logic values. Next, we need only find a way to arrange a set of components to manipulate those values in order to accommodate any task we want our computer to perform (but more about this later). First, let’s try to find out how to manipulate signals and implement real-world logic devices, commonly referred to as gates. Wooden gates, that is.