The Universal Machine From the Dawn of Computing to Digital Consciou
The computer unlike other inventions is universal; you can use a computer for many tasks: writing, composing music, designing buildings, creating movies, inhabiting virtual worlds, communicating... This popular science history isn't just about techn
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From the Dawn of Computing to Digital Consciousness
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Ian Watson
THE UNIVERSAL MACHINE From the Dawn of Computing to Digital Consciousness
An Imprint of Springer Science + Business Media
# Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Published in the United States by Copernicus Books, an imprint of Springer Science+Business Media. Copernicus Books Springer Science+Business Media 233 Spring Street New York, NY 10013 www.springer.com Library of Congress Control Number: 9783642281013 Manufactured in the United States of America. Printed on acid-free paper ISBN 978-3-642-28101-3
e-ISBN 978-3-642-28102-0
This book is dedicated to the memory of my grandfather, an airman, who gave his life in World War II, and to Alan Turing and all the men and women who worked alongside him, in secrecy and without any recognition at Bletchley Park to ensure that we all enjoy freedom.
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Preface
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hilst working on this book several people asked me, “What gave you the idea to write the book?” Good question – the idea of writing a popular science book had been in my mind for a while. I like popular science documentaries and books; I think they help people better understand the world they live in. I also like histories and again it’s important that people recognize the remarkable achievements of those who preceded them. I’ve read and enjoyed books like Salt: A World History and Spice: The History of Temptation, so at some point it must have come to me that a combination of popular science and history would be a good idea. To write a popular history of the computer was a natural progression since I’m a computer scientist and have always had an interest in its history. But, to write a popular book on computing and leave out any speculation about what the future of artificial intelligence and robotics holds for us seemed daft. I had to include the exciting fun stuff! So there you have it, the idea for a book on the history and future of computing was conceived. I then did some research; surely there must be other books just like this already? As I trawled through Amazon.com and my excellent local library looking for popular science and
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Preface history books I had a pleasant surprise. There were lots of books about specific aspects of this story: Silicon Valley in the 60s and 70s, Bill Gates and the software entrepreneurs, biographies of people like Steve Jobs, detailed accounts of WWII code-breaking, books on early business computers, and books by futurologists imagining wonderful, terrifying or fanciful futures. But, there seemed to be no book that told the entire story from the first computers, through to the present day, plus a projection into the future. I had my idea and it seemed a gap in the market. I’ve been working on this for about 3 years now. First doing the b
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