From Dots and Dashes To Bits and Qubits! A Startling History of Information Technology

"What Hath God Wrought"... These biblical words in Morse Code were sent by telegraph on the 24th of May 1844. The passage, one of wonderment, marked the beginning of the Information Age. The signal was sent a mere 38-miles between Washington and Baltimore, by overhead wire and made possible by the science of electromagnetism. Partners Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail had on that day affirmed telegraphy's viability and opened the doors of information technology for evermore.

The telegraph by today's standards was a primitive instrument. It simply switched electromagnetic current "on or off," by dot or by dash. Yet it was a leap in technological terms and would play an immediate and important role in personal communications, coordination of the railroad system and be decisive in the US Civil War. President Lincoln was the first Commander-in-Chief to have enjoyed the advantage of daily apprisals of first the maelstrom and later the fortunes leading to the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox.

From Electromagnets to Vacuum Tubes

One hundred years later vacuum tubes had replaced coiled wire magnets and main frame computers filled floors with complex hardware - "Do not fold, spindle or mutilate" warned the cards feeding these advanced processing machines. Still... Even with the progress of the vacuum tube, these systems were basically a "Wax on - Wax off" (a reference to the 1984 Pat Morita movie "Karate Kid") switching device at their heart. While the advancement of information technology had far surpassed anyone's imagination, it was yet to undergo an even more prolific encounter - the transistor!

The Transistor

Thanks to the ingenious efforts of John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley (winners of the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics) the transistor became a practical device in 1947. Without it we would not have the miniaturization of such electronic equipment as radios, calculators and computers. These small-3 wire conductors replaced the bulky-energy hungry vacuum tubes which had come to constrain the growth of electronics. The transistor breathed new life into the still binary switching concept of "On or Off."

During this same time Bell Labs scientist Morris Tanenbaum produced the first silicon transistor on January 26, 1954. The importance of this transition from vacuum tube to transistor to silicon mass-production can only be appreciated from the next segment of this article.

Moore's Law

Moore's law is the observation that, over the history of computing, the number of transistors on integrated circuits doubles in power approximately every two years. And in simpler terms: The capabilities of electronic devices, i.e., Processing speed, memory capacity, sensors and even digital cameras will increase exponentially... Causing technology as well as sociological changes in society.

There are critics that believe Moore's Law comes with limitations. Chiefly that the miniaturization of computational power will one day reach a limit as have other technologies before it. Futurist Ray Kurzweil would disagree. "When that limit is reached technology will leap beyond to a new paradigm," just as it did from electromagnetism to vacuum tubes, to transistors, to desk top computers, to the next technology of...

Quantum Computation

In a world where Newton's Laws have been suspended, a world so unique that it challenges our senses -- our being, where multiple worlds exist. We are beginning to see the universe through the eyes of quantum physics. It is the land of the proverbial butterfly's wing.

Today's computers are still simple binary switches instructed by strings of either a 1 or 0 - a "Wax on or Wax off" state called a "bit". The term bit is a contraction of binary digit. Still not so unlike the telegraph with either a dot or dash.

Quantum computing however, differs from digital computing in that it gives the user the power to represent data as a 0 or 1 singularly, simultaneously or in pairs called a qubits (quantum bits) -- existing in as many as 4 unique states. This opens up the possibilities of advanced computation, neural networking and artificial intelligence.

This is the invisible sub-particle world we live in - albeit inconceivable, yet computational. And that - after electromagnetism, after vacuum tubes, after silicon and transistors, after all that... The question is still posed: What hath God wrought?

Or if you prefer the Zen Koan, "What is the sound of one hand waxing?"

Google Video on Quantum Computing

David Skinner has over 25 years experience in business, management and marketing. He is an often quoted author and sought after public speaker. More examples of David's work, his bio and contact information may be found on his web site http://www.davidskinner.com

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