The concept of an algorithm

[d.andrew STEWART]

How far can we go back with respect to the concept of an algorithm … (I mean, pre-digital)?  And if we find examples, what "FUNCTION" did the algorithm serve?  I think there is value in studying this.  

[Ian Jarvis]

Sally Jane Norman discusses this to some degree though focuses on live coding 

Setting live coding performance in wider historical contexts.

Personally I find the flip side of this coin to be what fascinates me - what about algorithms now is different from their perpetuation over macro time.