Week 2: Computer Hardware

As demonstrated in the Wikipedia article about “[Personal] Computer Hardware,” it is essential for people to know what basically consists of a typical computer system. To comprehend how the equipment works, there should obviously be a description provided, which includes a list of its components, the functions they contribute, and how they complement each other to formulate this system. This source of information is useful to have, but it is just as important not to depend on to it, as what the Wikipedia article and the Scientific American video on Moore’s Law seem to indicate. Because the law claims that transistors within circuits double in amount at a pace of about every two years, there is an increasing likelihood a current model that is being observed happens to be outdated. This is also means people will need to act quicker in terms of comprehending the latest breakthroughs. However, there is never any reason to dispose of such information, which the Computer History Museum is able to demonstrate. To have better understanding as of how the computer system works, people also need to learn about its history. By preserving the models that were used in each of their contemporary times, people are able to learn about what inspired the successive innovations that followed. It is by understanding the past that we are able to confront the future.

It appears to me that the evolution of computer systems clearly reaffirm Thomas Kuhn’s theory on scientific revolutions. As people try to have a better understanding of the world, they go out and investigate. Based on whatever data they have gathered, they try to organize the details. In order to organize them, a model needs to be created. Somewhere down the line, there is an anomaly that seems to contradict this model. One thing out of the ordinary after another, the model needs to be restructured or even replaced for the sake of accommodating for those anomalies, only to repeat the cycle. In parallel with Kuhn, what led to the creation of the very first computer was probably a need for people to develop a more efficient model to organize information (i.e. the ability to carry so much information in so little physical space). What seems to be the anomaly were the discovered flaws that had been hindering progress. Once they were confronted and handled, newer versions were presented each time, eventually leading to the models we have today. As of now, the latest anomaly involves the transistors and circuits. According to the video on Moore’s Law, there is a limitation as to how many transistors circuits can utilize. This can potentially lead to one of the following in the near future: the reformatting of circuits so as to accommodate for more transistors, the reformatting of transistors so as to accommodate for the circuits, or the reformatting of both to accommodate each other. Either way, we are likely to witness a breakthrough completely different from what we have today within a matter of ten years.