A Lighter Look at the Information Technology Revolution

How far will and should the web of information penetrate into our daily life? Do we desire a situation where information travels freely, where everything is tagged and tracked, your car, your dog, you?

In gazing into the future, no one possesses perfect foresight. The history of technology abounds with examples of predictions that have rapidly turned out to be woefully inaccurate. Heavier-than-air-flight, atomic energy and controlled thermonuclear power are three examples of the first half of the twentieth century where scientists were proven wrong. In the later half of the century we have the case of the President of Digital Equipment Corporation on record in 1978 as having declared that there was no reason for any individual to have a computer in their homes! And none other than Bill Gates himself was almost wrong-footed by the rapid growth of the Internet. By a strange quirk of fate it was the vigor with which Microsoft embraced the Internet that led to the ruling that his company had breached US anti-trust legislation.

But where did it all start? Economic historians characterize humankind as having passed from the agrarian revolution when we first settled down, domesticated animals and began to raise crops, to the industrial revolution that began in England in the 17th century with application of waterpower to textile production.

These epochs of course overlap, with the industrial revolution still unfolding, albeit at a slower pace. One might argue that that the information technology revolution began in the late 19th century when Herman Hollerith automated the data processing for the US Census. The company that he founded, Tabulating Machine Company, later became IBM.

In the 20th century our ability to process large volumes of data into useful information grew exponentially as the mechanical devices of Hollerith were replaced by successive generations of electronic devices. The invention of the valve amplifier was basic to the computers that assisted the design of the A-bomb. The transistor appeared in 1948 and became an essential tool in the arms race of the Cold War.

A hint of the huge power that would become easily available to manipulate data came with the production of the first silicon chips a mere thirty years ago. This was followed by the personal computer, mobile communications, the Internet and now electronic commerce.

The start of the information technology revolution can actually be traced back many centuries ago. The European Renaissance was propelled through the information technology revolution of that time which was nothing else than the innovation of John Gutenberg's movable type printing press. Suddenly the printed word became available outside monastic circles.

But back to the present information technology revolution! The development and deployment of the personal computer that started in the 70's might have been expected to lead to widespread applications in education, but it was the office and home environments that boosted the extraordinary growth of this industry. Arcade game technology also became a major driver for faster and larger memory devices.

The speed with which the information technology revolution has penetrated our lives is staggering: it took 38 years for radio to reach 50 million listeners; 13 years for television to reach 50 million viewers; 4 years for the Internet to attract 50 million surfers! Isn't this amazing?

In conclusion - great vigilance is needed to understand the interplay between technology, society and morality. It is strange that a type of sand, silicon, the second most abundant element in the earth's crust should provide us with the means to know so much about so many things!