Would computer history have been different if that had been known?

It is about the cross switch, known in electrical engineering. In railway technology it is called double crossing switch. Connected in series we know the cross switch e.g. from the staircase lighting. But hard to believe: In addition to the series connection, there is also the parallel connection, which was previously unknown.

This leads to a new computer logic, which is not based on the basic operations AND, OR and NOT of a Boolean algebra, but on the basic operations of a Boolean ring, AND and EXOR. Boolean algebra and Boolean ring are completely equivalent – except that the latter has much more pleasant mathematical properties.

What is new is that now, in principle, there is also the hardware for the mathematical model: The interconnection of cross switches, in series and parallel, converts exactly the logical operations in the Boolean ring, and the mechanism of substitution, 1:1 into hardware. An existing cross switch network model can be tried out.