The third age of computing - The Computing Universe: A Journey through a Revolution - page 318

16 The third age of computing
Every 30 years there is a new wave of things that
computers do. Around 1950 they began to model
events in the world ( simulation ), and around 1980
to connect people ( communication ). Since 2010 they
have begun to engage with the physical world in a
non-trivial way ( embodiment ).
Butler Lampson 1
The next revolution
The first age of computing was concerned with using computers for simula-
tion . As we have seen, the first computers were built to do complex calculations.
The initial motivation for building the ENIAC was to calculate artillery tables
showing the angles at which guns should be fired based on the distance to the
target and other conditions. After World War II, scientists used the ENIAC to
explore possible designs for a hydrogen bomb. More generally, computers were
used to simulate complex systems defined in terms of a mathematical model
that captured the essential characteristics of the system under study. During
the first thirty years of computing, from about 1950 until the early 1980s,
researchers increasingly used computers for simulations of all sorts of complex
systems. Computer simulations have transformed our lives, from designing
cars and planes to making weather forecasts and financial models. At the same
time, businesses used computers for performing the many, relatively simple
calculations needed to manage inventories, payroll systems, and bank transac-
tions. Even these very early computers could perform numerical calculations
much, much faster than humans.
The second age of computing was about using computers for communica-
tion . The last thirty years, from the early 1980s until today, have seen computers
become personal, not only for scientists and businesses but also for consumers.
We now routinely use laptops, mobile phones, and tablets for a variety of activi-
ties, such as word processing, sending emails, searching the web, sharing photos,
reading ebooks, and watching videos. Huge improvements in processing power
together with astonishing miniaturization have come from the steady advance
of computer technology predicted by Moore's law. It is these dramatic improve-
ments in power and size during the last thirty years that have made possible
the wide range of compact, portable computing devices we have available today.
But this miniaturization of computing has been accompanied by an equally dra-
matic increase in connectivity , the ability to communicate with other computers.
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