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Literally, the electronic revolution began with the ancient greeks, who posessed some knowledge of the phenomena. It was rationalised by scientists since the eighteenth century, namely Alessandro Volta and Michael Faraday. However, what I am referring to is mass electronics, microprocessors, and other such 'sci-fi' equipment which we can arguably not live without. In the modern age electronic knowledge is on the exponential increase, and it is this era which can be coined the electronic revolution. We are now witnessing feats of technology that we could only have dreamed about a century ago.
Embedded computers are becoming a far more integral part of our everyday lives. Digital watches are tiny computers, the mechanics of which would bedazzle all but the brightest engineers. In the last five years we have also seen a massive onset in mobile phones. In this day and age only a select few do not possess mobile phones, thus they are becoming more integrated into society. However, if one was intuitive enough to measure the technological evolution of mobile phones, it would be discovered that they are becoming more powerful by the day. Nowadays we can buy phones which connect to the web, play games, communicate with each other, and still fit neatly into your pocket. This is truly a trend which could not have been comprehended ten years ago.
There is no more obvious frontrunner in the electronic revolution than the computer. In the last fifty years we have seen an enormous increase in microcomputer technology. Beginning from the archaic mechanism posessed by world war two codebreaking computers such as Enigma, to three dimensional flowing visuals such as that of the XBox. I'm sure you will agree in the last ten years videogame consoles have evolved rapidly, from the seemingly ancient NES to the consoles of today. I for one cannot comprehend what the next ten years will hold for the computing market, we will just have to wait and see.
As well as the booming increase in power, we are also seeing a correlative trend appearing in size. Engineers are constantly working to compress electronics equipment to the smallest size possible. Already we are seeing software that we run on our PC's at home appear on a hand-held PDA type platform that fit into your pocket with ease. Truly futuristic stuff that has the potential to change the way we work in the future. Casio have already managed to fit a camera into a wristwatch, and Nokia are following the wristwatch trend by offering blueprints of embedded mobile phones on our wrists.
However, nothing compares to the internet in my mind as the groundbreaker in this era. The pure size of the internet is absolutely astonishing. Nowadays accessing information originating from the other side of the world through telecommunications is deemed as an everyday task. A task which most of us take for granted. It is strange to comprehend that the everyday sites we visit are based on a computer thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean. Also, in this revolutionary period, we are seeing this process speed up to dramatic extents. The mass onset and accessibility of broadband technology will allow us to do such tasks in a split second. The internet is unarguably becoming habitual technology.
It is important to stress that computers and the internet are only players in an entire revolutionary process. We can see evidence of this period in everything we touch and see. Everything from telephones to vacuum cleaners, from clocks to refrigerators, are becoming modernised. In fact it is hard to pick up an object nowadays without being able to find evidence of electronics in it somewhere. Be it self evident in the object itself, or at some point in its manufacture. To remove electronics from the world in which we live would be unimaginable to say the least, it is now fundamental.
So this is what we have now, but what will we have in the future? If we can comprehend the technology we have in this age and compare it to what we did have, it is a truly astounding difference. Many of the technology we now possessed was considered 'sci-fi' only a couple of decades ago. Thus it is comprehendable that much of todays sci-fi will be reality a few years down the line. Holographic communication cannot really be too far away if we consider the exponential technological rise that we are experiencing now. Also, we are breaking new barriers in computer intelligence by the day, so how long realistically can it possibly be before we have truly intelligent machines? In my mind these wonderous concepts are not too far down the passage of time. Could we really have imagined giving a computer vocal instruction ten years ago? Now there are numerous voice recognition packages readily available in the shops!
So this is the electronic revolution. Do we just sit back and let it happen? Of course we do! These things will probably pass us by like the changing of the seasons. There will surely become a time in all of our lives when we retrospectively consider what we have, and how lucky we are to live in the world we do. On the other hand, will people one hundred years down the line look back on our age and consider it the dark ages of technology? I will leave you with that thought, but imagine how one hundred years ago seems to us now, and imagine what waits just around the corner.
Thanks for reading
I sound like an English teacher.
Good post
p.s. how do you do it at such early hours??
Literally, the electronic revolution began with the ancient greeks, who posessed some knowledge of the phenomena. It was rationalised by scientists since the eighteenth century, namely Alessandro Volta and Michael Faraday. However, what I am referring to is mass electronics, microprocessors, and other such 'sci-fi' equipment which we can arguably not live without. In the modern age electronic knowledge is on the exponential increase, and it is this era which can be coined the electronic revolution. We are now witnessing feats of technology that we could only have dreamed about a century ago.
Embedded computers are becoming a far more integral part of our everyday lives. Digital watches are tiny computers, the mechanics of which would bedazzle all but the brightest engineers. In the last five years we have also seen a massive onset in mobile phones. In this day and age only a select few do not possess mobile phones, thus they are becoming more integrated into society. However, if one was intuitive enough to measure the technological evolution of mobile phones, it would be discovered that they are becoming more powerful by the day. Nowadays we can buy phones which connect to the web, play games, communicate with each other, and still fit neatly into your pocket. This is truly a trend which could not have been comprehended ten years ago.
There is no more obvious frontrunner in the electronic revolution than the computer. In the last fifty years we have seen an enormous increase in microcomputer technology. Beginning from the archaic mechanism posessed by world war two codebreaking computers such as Enigma, to three dimensional flowing visuals such as that of the XBox. I'm sure you will agree in the last ten years videogame consoles have evolved rapidly, from the seemingly ancient NES to the consoles of today. I for one cannot comprehend what the next ten years will hold for the computing market, we will just have to wait and see.
As well as the booming increase in power, we are also seeing a correlative trend appearing in size. Engineers are constantly working to compress electronics equipment to the smallest size possible. Already we are seeing software that we run on our PC's at home appear on a hand-held PDA type platform that fit into your pocket with ease. Truly futuristic stuff that has the potential to change the way we work in the future. Casio have already managed to fit a camera into a wristwatch, and Nokia are following the wristwatch trend by offering blueprints of embedded mobile phones on our wrists.
However, nothing compares to the internet in my mind as the groundbreaker in this era. The pure size of the internet is absolutely astonishing. Nowadays accessing information originating from the other side of the world through telecommunications is deemed as an everyday task. A task which most of us take for granted. It is strange to comprehend that the everyday sites we visit are based on a computer thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean. Also, in this revolutionary period, we are seeing this process speed up to dramatic extents. The mass onset and accessibility of broadband technology will allow us to do such tasks in a split second. The internet is unarguably becoming habitual technology.
It is important to stress that computers and the internet are only players in an entire revolutionary process. We can see evidence of this period in everything we touch and see. Everything from telephones to vacuum cleaners, from clocks to refrigerators, are becoming modernised. In fact it is hard to pick up an object nowadays without being able to find evidence of electronics in it somewhere. Be it self evident in the object itself, or at some point in its manufacture. To remove electronics from the world in which we live would be unimaginable to say the least, it is now fundamental.
So this is what we have now, but what will we have in the future? If we can comprehend the technology we have in this age and compare it to what we did have, it is a truly astounding difference. Many of the technology we now possessed was considered 'sci-fi' only a couple of decades ago. Thus it is comprehendable that much of todays sci-fi will be reality a few years down the line. Holographic communication cannot really be too far away if we consider the exponential technological rise that we are experiencing now. Also, we are breaking new barriers in computer intelligence by the day, so how long realistically can it possibly be before we have truly intelligent machines? In my mind these wonderous concepts are not too far down the passage of time. Could we really have imagined giving a computer vocal instruction ten years ago? Now there are numerous voice recognition packages readily available in the shops!
So this is the electronic revolution. Do we just sit back and let it happen? Of course we do! These things will probably pass us by like the changing of the seasons. There will surely become a time in all of our lives when we retrospectively consider what we have, and how lucky we are to live in the world we do. On the other hand, will people one hundred years down the line look back on our age and consider it the dark ages of technology? I will leave you with that thought, but imagine how one hundred years ago seems to us now, and imagine what waits just around the corner.
Thanks for reading