Essay, Research Paper
Computer Technology and the Effect on Society Computer technology has had a great effect on society as a whole throughout history. It has modified our behavior greatly as we have become accustomed to the technological advancements of yesterday. We are so dependent sometimes we do not even have a concept of what life would be like without computers. When we are forced to live life without computers we are left hopeless and disillusioned and simple everyday tasks become major chores. Computers of the past were very primitive compared to the computers of today but extremely useful. One of the very first computers of major importance was the abacus that was developed by Chinese and later made more portable by the Greeks The Abacus was used for more than 2000 years and made life easier for many. It was used as a calculator, as today, to simplify computations of small or large figures. This gave many people increased free time while maintaining the current economic status within their society. Another important device of this time was the astrolabe. The astrolabe was used for the navigation of ships and allowed sailors to draw maps based on astrological calculation. This helped many sailors and explorers find many new and uncharted lands, which eventually led to the European colonization of North America. During the 1600’s there was a surge of inventors conjuring up many new ideas. In 1642, Blaise Pascal was accredited for inventing the first digital calculating machine which could only add. This invention was not for himself, but for his father, who worked hard as a tax collector. The first digital calculator started a whole new line of calculating devices that could not only add but divide, multiply, and subtract. This task was not accomplished until 1820 by Charles Xavier Thomas. The introduction of punch cards, in the late 1800’s, automated data entry resulting in many jobs lost that would have been available to the average worker. Punch cards were first used in the 1890 census. This not only reduced the amount of workers but also the amount of human error that could have occurred in previous census. The use of punch cards did not end there. Punch cards were greatly improved by IBM, that successfully provided mechanical automation of data entry. This was done by using spinning wheels to process 50 to 250 cards per a minute. This again sadly eliminated many jobs but continued the development of the computing industry. Though many jobs were lost, the automation of punch cards actually created new and different jobs that replaced the lost ones. People were needed for the factory assembly of the machines as well as operators. Many people had to be trained how to operate these computer controlled machines. This opened up a vast line of new jobs for many people. During the 1950’s and 1960’s there were many new discoveries that revolutionized the computing industry. The first of many was the discovery of the transistor quickly replaced the tubes. This could have reduced the size of computers greatly but instead this was used to make computers more powerful. Another pertinent discovery of this time period was the magnetic-core memory. This helped computers increase the memory that was available for the use of computations. Even though these discoveries helped the computing industry, computers at that time were not used by the average person. This was due to the cost of running and maintaining these units. They were mostly used by industry, government, and private laboratories. This helped the industries to produce goods more efficiently, the government to keep track of information, and allowed laboratories to make many new discoveries. The next advancement was the medium of storage. Magnetic drums, magnetic disk packs, and magnetic tapes also appeared for the first time allowing more convenient storage than before. Instead of having many stacks of cards vast amounts of information could now be stored on tapes. Even though this technology was introduced in the 50’s, it was not widely used until the 1970’s. This again was due to the cost of the technology. Even though these advancements helped the computing industry move forward they also helped the job market, as well as keeping accurate records of information. Companies now needed a full time staff to run the computers as well as programmers to program them. The introduction of magnetic storage also helped many scientists organize their data, to make better and more concise evaluations, allowing them to make discoveries that they never previously thought possible. This began the rapid advancement towards computers as we know them t