Technological Advancement In History Research Paper Sample

Introduction

Technology development has been seen to be on a faster rate in the whole world. There are issues that have been enhanced with the use of technology. Technology development can be seen to have had significant impact on the way humans live their lives. Technology has been attached to the human lives that it makes it difficult to be without technology. Nothing has had tremendous impact on the social, political, and economic impact on human life than computing technology. Nearly all the happening in the world today have come because of the changes from technology. This paper will focus on the historical development of the computing technology and the impacts it has had on the human life. The impact that the paper will focus on will be on the changes to human race.

Historical development of computing technology

Computing technology is known to have been developed many years ago, about 1642. It is approximately 5000 years ago. The historical development of computers has been enhanced with extensive research that has been seen to be in state for long. The real journey to the power of computing technology that is seen today can be attributed to the revolutions that were seen in 1812. It is a revolutions which was enhanced with the developments of English mathematician, Charles Babbage. The development that inspired the development of technology can be attributed to the calculator technology that was discovered during those years. Babbage developed a machine helped to solve differences that was called the Difference Engine. It is under the feature that machines were able to perform tasks for a record long time without getting tired or making any mistake. The machine was large, large as a locomotive and its power was drawn from steam. The machine could perform calculations and have the results printed automatically. These were the developments that enhanced the developments that are seen in the world today. After the success on the Difference Engine, Babbage got the inspiration to start working on the first general purpose computer that was called the Analytical Engine. The success of the Analytical Engine was made possible with the assistance that Babbage got from Ada King, who developed Lovelace. The design of the machine was made possible with the collaboration of the two mathematicians. She helped in understanding the design of Babbage and making any changes that were necessary in the process. The funding from the British Government was from the work of Ada.
The work of Babbage of the steam-powered Engines may be seen to be awkward when compared to the standards of today. However, it is the basis that the current general purpose computers were built today. The Analytical Engine was made of approximately 5000 units which included input devices which were in the form of perforated cards. The cards were used to hold instructions that were to be followed by the machine. There was also a “store” which acted as memory of the machine which is today referred to as computer storage or memory. The store was used to keep numbers up to 1000 which were up to 50 decimal places and digits. There was also a “mill” which had a unit that was used for control. It is the unit which was used to control the processing of instructions is that it could be performed in any sequence that could be achieved. There was also the presence of the output devices which were used to represent the results that were from the machine. The results were printed so that they could be seen by the users of the machines and the devices.
In 1944, the first generation computer was produced by Howard Aiken. It was in the form of a calculator which was used to perform computations. It was a very huge machine that covered a football pitch and had wiring running for as long as 500 miles. Most of the computer developments and improvements were inspired by the Second World War. The machines and computer inventions were done so that they could help the countries to have strategic positions in the war and have a better way in which the opponents could be attacked in the wars.
There was another development in 1975 of the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) which was made possible with a partnership between the US government and the University of Pennsylvania. With this development, there were 18000 vacuum tubes and transistors reaching 70,000. There were joints that were soldered that were above 5 million. It performed at speeds that were better than the previous developments.
After the developments that were seen with the introduction of transistors, developments were seen to be done towards having smaller computers. The integrated circuits were made so that there were developments that were done in order to have new techniques and systems that would be smaller in size. There was the rise of the mainframe computers and super computers which were a commonplace in the 1980s. The improvements that were seen were made so that the computers would be smaller in size. Most of the developments that were seen were done in order to have smaller computers that would be portable. The developments saw the introduction of desktop and personal computers that were seen in 1975. Yet smaller computers were seen to be on the rise in the 1990s.
Computing power has been increased significantly with the introduction of Large Scale Integration (LSI) which was aimed at fitting many components in pone chip. It is the foundation of the many smart mobile phones that are seen to be produced at the moment. With the rise of the personal computers in 1981, so was the rise of computer communication technologies that were made possible with the rise of local area networks (LANs).LANs was a new technology which made to possible to have computers connected and able to communicate with other computers. It led to the rise and enhancement of the internet. It took place in the 1990s. Organizations reorganized the way they performed their functions by having new ways in which they could communicate. The internet is now a significant development in the entire computing developments and enhancements. It is an enhancement and technological development that is significant in the world.
There are now new developments commonly with the historical enhancement for computing. There is the rise of cloud computing, artificial intelligence and Web 2.0. All these have promised to bring a new way in which technology will impact the lives of the users of the technology.

Economic, cultural and political changes

Many changes are visible and have been brought by the computing technology. One of the cultural changes is the way communication and interaction has been achieved. With the achievement of social network through the internet, people are now able to communicate and socialize through the internet. The social paradigm has been defined with the new ways that have been brought by the internet. People are now able to get resources and do most transactions on the internet.
There are also political changes that have been brought by computing technologies. With organizations now fighting to have faster internet, there is research that is being carried so that there are new power that is attached to the use of technology and the internet. It is a significant development that is seen to be on the rise. Governments have been blamed for failing to bring infrastructural changes that are needed in countries so that there is better use of computing power. The political strategies and promises are now pegged at computing power and the potential that can be gained from the use of computing resources. Competitive advantages has not been pegged at how effective computing power has been provided to the people.
Economically, there are booming businesses that have been seen to have been developed over the internet. Many people have started online businesses and has enabled these people to have better ways undertaking transactions. Operational costs have been reduced with the use of the internet.

Conclusion

There are many developments that have been used to enhance the development and achievements that are seen in the world today. Some of the changes that are seen to be happening in the world is through the use of technology. Computing development and technology has been one that has had significant impact in the world today.

References

Campbell-Kelly, Martin. "The History of Computing in Colour." (2014).
Fornés, Jordi, Néstor Herran, Nicholas Rawlings, Zbigniew Stachniak, and David Hemmendinger. "18 Computing in Transition: The Origins of Barcelona’s School of Informatics, 1976–1984." (2014).
Metropolis, Nicholas, ed. History of computing in the twentieth century. Elsevier, 2014.
Turkel, William J., Shezan Muhammedi, and Mary Beth Start. "Grounding Digital History in the History of Computing." IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 36, no. 2 (2014): 72-75.