INTRODUCTION
- WHY DO WE CALL IT A COMPUTER
(When it does more than add up)?
Historically,
the machine we’re looking at is called a computer
because its first uses were computational at the level
that most of us would understand the term: the high-speed
and repeated execution of basic arithmetic in order to
calculate ballistic tables for artillery and accurate
aerial bombing during World
War II.
Once it became clear that letters of the alphabet could
be encoded in a form so they could be ‘crunched’ by
computers; that quantities like temperature and pressure
and both audio and visual imagery could also be encoded
in a compatible form, the possibilities for acquiring,
storing, manipulating and reproducing all kinds of data
and information became nearly limitless. If anything
is reliable about the computer, it is its unerring ability
to adapt, expand, dodge expectations and generally outstrip
our grasp
(Smith, Brian Cantwell (1996) On the Origin of Objects,
MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, p. 6). |
