The Information Age

The Information Age

If the telephone was the first globally impactful invention, the personal computer was the second.  Developments in mainframe and midrange computers gave rise to the microcomputer in the 1980’s. This personal computer (PC), as it became known, took computer processing out the hands of large corporations, universities and governmental institutions and let people everywhere use this technology.

What came next was a massive production boom of both hardware and software during the 1980’s and 90’s.  The expansion and utilization of these devices introduced the second component of the Intelligence Age: Computation.  In the 1950’s and 1960’s, the computing power of NASA utilized room-sized computers and card entry systems requiring significant effort, deliberation and validation for basic input and output of modest calculations.  PC’s changed all that with more-intuitive input devices, like keyboards and mice, and software to automate just about any process.