Swedin/Ferro’s Computers p 1-83

The book Computers: The Life Story of Technology by Eric G. Sweden and David L. Ferro is set up to basically list, with a brief description, all the advances that led up to the first computers along with how computers have advanced since their invention.  The book begins as far back as when language was first being taken down by using complicated methods like knots in strings or tally marks on sticks.  By page 83 Sweden and Ferro did their best to list chronologically all the advancements in computers up to the development of the microprocessor in 1971.

The idea of the first half of this book is to show that computers exist due to people's want to keep information.  Even the machines that were used just to find logarithms were just a way for people to obtain a piece of information more easily than before.  Another point of the book is to show the speed at which computers are advancing.  Describing this rate Sweden/Ferro write, "...commentators have predicted that this trend would hit an obstacle that engineers could not overcome and slow down, but that has not yet happened..." (p. 68).   This was predicted in Moore's law to occur in 1980 but like the book says it still has not happened.  Even looking at the the timeline in the front of the book shows that the rate of these developments are not slowing down and are even increasing exponentially.  It starts off by showing a significant development about every one hundred years, but by the end is showing numerous advances for every year.  This idea was also presented in the PBS special we watched during class while talking about the difference in regular years versus computer years.  By saying this it was not only showing how fast old technologies become outdated, but also how people in the industry can only keep up for a certain amount of time before fresh minds are needed.

American culture is affected the most by the speed at which these technologies are coming out.  If technology advanced at a slower rate people's ability to adapt would not have to react as fast.  Many of us feel that if we do not obtain the latest piece of technology, it will become impossible for the individual to keep up, once the new technology becomes part of everyday life.