When
the first electronic computers emerged from university and armed laboratories in the late 1940s and early 1950s, visionaries proclaimed them the harbingers of a second industrial revolution that would transform business,government and industry. But few laymen, even if they were conscious of the
machines, could see the link. Experts too, were skeptical. Not only were computers huge, expensive, one-of-a-kind devices designed for performing abstruse scientific and military calculations, such as cracking codes and calculation missile trajectories, they were also enormously difficult to handle.Now, it is clear that computers are not only here to wait, but they have profound effect on society as well. As John McCarthy, Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University speculated in 1966: "The computer gives signs of becoming the contemporary counterpart of the steam engine that brought on the industrial revolution - one that is still gathering momentum and whose true nature had yet to be seen."Today's applications of computers are vast. They are used to run normal household appliances such as televisions and microwaves, to being tools in the workplaces through word processing, spreadsheets, and graphics software, to running monumental tasks such as being the heart and soul of the nation’s tax dispensation department, and managing the project timetables of the room Shuttle.It is obvious that the computer is now and forever will be inexorably linked tour lives, and we have no choice but to accept this technology and learn how to harness its total possible. With any progressing technology, an unauthorized application can almost be found for it. A computer could and has been used for theft and fraud - for
example, as a database and manager of illegal activities such as drug trafficking and pornography. However, we must not just think the harmful applications of the computer, but also take into account the good that they have caused. When society embraced the computer technology, we have to treat this as an extension of what we already have at hand. This means that some problems that we had before the computer era may also arise now, in the form where computersare an accessory to a crime.
machines, could see the link. Experts too, were skeptical. Not only were computers huge, expensive, one-of-a-kind devices designed for performing abstruse scientific and military calculations, such as cracking codes and calculation missile trajectories, they were also enormously difficult to handle.Now, it is clear that computers are not only here to wait, but they have profound effect on society as well. As John McCarthy, Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University speculated in 1966: "The computer gives signs of becoming the contemporary counterpart of the steam engine that brought on the industrial revolution - one that is still gathering momentum and whose true nature had yet to be seen."Today's applications of computers are vast. They are used to run normal household appliances such as televisions and microwaves, to being tools in the workplaces through word processing, spreadsheets, and graphics software, to running monumental tasks such as being the heart and soul of the nation’s tax dispensation department, and managing the project timetables of the room Shuttle.It is obvious that the computer is now and forever will be inexorably linked tour lives, and we have no choice but to accept this technology and learn how to harness its total possible. With any progressing technology, an unauthorized application can almost be found for it. A computer could and has been used for theft and fraud - for
example, as a database and manager of illegal activities such as drug trafficking and pornography. However, we must not just think the harmful applications of the computer, but also take into account the good that they have caused. When society embraced the computer technology, we have to treat this as an extension of what we already have at hand. This means that some problems that we had before the computer era may also arise now, in the form where computersare an accessory to a crime.
