Blog for the First Reading

This book, Computers: The Story of Technology by Eric Swedin and David Ferro, presents a timeline for computer technology. It starts with both the history of computing and also the key ideas present in today's computers. I can see were this would be an interesting book for someone interested in technology, but I found to be written like an extended laundry list. Although I have to say, I marvel at how technology has changed and how much I use it every day.

Swedin and Ferro write about a complex subject. The story of computer technology is complex and involving not merely the technology, but also the politics, personalities and the clash of cultures from various scientists.

Even though technology is not an interest of mine, there were aspects of the history of the computer I found attention-grabbing. In the very first chapter, the book starts with any interesting story about the find of old wreck, possibly of Roman in origin. Through the modern invention of x-ray photography, it was discovered that a corroded lump of metal found in the wreck was a mechanical computer for calculating solar and stellar calendars. I was shocked to read that a machine, even a type of computer was used as far back as Roman times.

Another interesting section in the book was the discussion on human computers. I was interested in finding more about people who used “slide rules, abacus, pen and paper”, and later on used mechanical adding machines. The most amazing thing was that this term “human computer” was used up until WW II. Unfortunately, this was a small paragraph in the reading.

With World War II came the von Neumann architecture, the basis of most current computers and then the solid state transistor at Bell Labs in 1948. Progress seemed so slow, in retrospect. But then the narrative speeds up, as Moore's Law took effect in the late 1960’s and the invention of microprocessor in the late 1960’s. The reading seemed to pickup just as this week’s reading came to a close. I hope the rest of the book moves this smoothly.

While reading the first half of “Computers”, I could not help notice that with every new invention, the speed at which technology was traveling accelerated even faster. We are a society that wants “it” now and better. In today’s time line and with the invention of the internet, we are traveling like a rocket to the stars. My question is: when will that speed level out? Will there come a time when we have all we want and in a speedy turn over? I think the answer is we will never stop wanting the latest gadget or the newest toy or tool. That is only human nature, but will we over speedy out of control?