Computers have come a long way since they were first invented in the 1940’s. No longer do they occupy whole rooms or consume excessive amounts of energy. Computers were first developed as devices used to perform calculations and were not programmable. As science and technology advanced, computers became more flexible in their use and practicality. Today, computers are involved in everything we do, from sending a text messages and playing video games to building the cars we drive.

Select any industry and you will find technology by way of computers has made a lasting impact. Consider farming, for example, where crop rotations and crop harvesting were once calculated by hand and gathered by hand. Now huge fields of wheat or corn are planted and in some cases grown using biotechnology, where genetically engineered foods can now be grown at faster rates, for example. These same fields are also harvested using giant machines with many times the capability of man or animal and designed and built using computer technology.

How far will computer technology go and what new advances will our generation see, and multiple generations after that? Nobody knows for certain but many have tried to estimate its impact. From science fiction novels to industrialists and economists, computers, or any programmable device used to perform multiple calculations at lighting fast speeds are anticipated to continue to play a vastly important role in how we work, play, continue to develop as society. We are already in what some macro economists call the Information Age, an age post-Industrial where certain rules once applicable to the Industrial Age no longer apply. This is an age where individuals play a vastly more important and influential role than ever before in our recorded history. One man can now use a computer to start a business, run it and work from anywhere in the world. How far will we go and to what ends will we reach with faster and more efficient computer technology? Only time can truly tell.