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THE COMPUTER

What do we see in a sunset or in a defining experience, or even in a lover (or two)? We see what we want to see. We know there is far more depth than the moment presents, but it is background to that moment and in our immediate fulfillment we could care less.

And so it is with our computer. We bond to the level at which we work and pretty much shut out the other levels. And that is to our own great loss. We deprive ourselves of truly appreciating the profound depths of this amazing development, which is expanding our life experience and is becoming part of our cultural way of life. And soon to come, the computer will be a major factor in all aspects of our biological being as well.

So let us look deeply into our greatest creation.

Bits

At its most fundamental layer is the bit, the bistable state. On this ultimate simplicity we build it all. We arbitrarily label one value "true" and the other "false" and we build a logic system of "and", "or", and other operations from which we model decision making. We arbitrarily consider one value a numeric zero and the other element a numeric one and let the presence of two one values generate a carry signal and we model the arithmetic system that handles all the mathematics we can imagine.

It is curious to reflect that the brains of everything that crawls, flies, swims, or walks on the face of the earth consists of an enormous number of cells called neurons that function in a bistable manner. So the computer fundementally is an enormous number of bistable elements. A small number of those elements are changing at any given time under controlled circumstances to accomplish the marvelous things that computers do.

The significance of the bit is that it is the most simple of elements; yet this invention of humankind is capable of modeling and controlling our entire physical and intellectual environments.

Components

The next level of abstraction is the mechanisms that implement the binary system. This is the underworld of the engineers. The well ordered, disciplined ranks of those whose greatest ambition in life is to make it work. "Let none tread here who do not speak schematics."

The success of the computer as we know it has been based on the transistor, which acts like a gate to electrons flowing through it. The computers to come will be electronic for the next few years, but inevitably they will be built on other materials, optical, biological, molecular, who knows? Any platform that can provide manipulation, transmission, and storage of bistable elements can be used.

The intriguing thing is that none of the other levels of abstraction will basically change, no matter what the computer is made from.

Machine language

This level is where the computer gets its unlimited power. It is the difference between the computer and all the machines that have preceded it. Machines have always been built to do a specific task. The computer is built to be able to do tasks as yet undreamed of. The computer does what it does in response to messages sent to its central system. The messages are from its instruction set. The selection and sequences of those messages is the computer program.

So what we have is something that can modify and adapt. The last time this potential came about was when an odd type of monkey climbed down out of a tree.

Programming

Here is that secret, mystic land half way between the computer and the human. Here lurk those who are labeled nerds and geeks. They are the inarticulate, antisocial misfits of technology. They are ignored by the engineers because they reject anything analog. They are disdained by the systems designers because they reject the verbal. They are completely blamed for all the bugs, glitches, and crashes that have ever occurred. They are the bane of all planners and schedulers because to circumvent argument they agree to any plan or schedule and then completely ignore it.

But these are the chosen ones. They make it all happen. They are the closest of all humans to the spirit that emanates from the computer. They are its intimates. They speak to it in the computer's own language and the electronic Genie obeys and performs to their choreography. Theirs is the unique experience to create and control the magnificence that is latent in these most marvelous of creations.

System design

At a desk completely away from the computers, or possibly at a table at Star-bucks, or a quiet moment any time, any place, the system designer dreams of what might be. The system designer is at the confluence of the ever insatiable drive of people to do more and better and the vast potential of the computer. Here the focus is on the user and what great services the computer can provide. It is also the level at which fame and fortune are the motivating factors. Here the pure love of the technology fades away to making money. But the system designer level supports all the others. It is necessary and spectacularly successful.

User interface

Then there is the user interface to the computer. We humans must bond to our means of survival. Over time, those means have included hunting-gathering, plowing the earth, using machines,
doing office work, and now leveraging information. In all of these, we had to learn how to master the means available. The user interface has always been the critical factor for all those means. And it is especially so now for the computer.

In the early days it was agonizing as stilted, unforgiving sequences of entries were necessary to get something to work. It was not fatal then, as all of the users were developer type people who were delighted that anything worked at all. Gradually, however, that is changing. Now the interplay is more intuitively resonant to the human, and herein lies the future. When the barrier comes down the computer becomes our means of survival as much as any of the others before. The human interface level is now the most important level of the computer system and the key to its complete integration into our way of life.

the computer

We celebrate our achievement. It is the newest of humankind's major enhancements of our means of survival. Its profound significance is that it is the means with which we create new means. As machines leveraged human muscle to move mountains, the computer leverages our mind to create environments as yet undreamed of. Let us see it all.