Computers the Life Story of a Technology blog 2

A common theme within the last few chapters of Eric Swedin and David Ferro’s book is the interdependency of ideas in creating the modern computer. No computer or software was created by a single person or idea. In fact, early programmers and creates relied heavily on one another, this collaboration helped establish the newly emerging technology driven culture; for example, Apple creators Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. Jobs was introduced to Wozniak through a mutual friend, Bill Fernandez. Both Fernandez and Wozniak attended high school in an area heavily populated by engineers and programmers. This cultural acceptance of technology reached beyond Wozniak and Fernandez’s home town and eventually grew into a community of programmers and creators. Inventors are constantly looking at others work and bouncing their ideas off one another. Thus the culture and society of programmers was slowly being formed, without much concern for popular acceptance or demand. Jobs makes mentions of this when stating “what we did was follow our own instincts and construct a computer that was what we wanted” (page 99), thus the computer was created to fit the needs and intentions of original programmers and less for the general populace. These inventions eventually made their way into modern society, and erupted. These eruptions created cultures, and counter cultures, connected in some way through the wonders of modern technology. For example, it is impossible to ignore the importance of computer within modern films. Star Wars could have never been made and as widely accepted sans technology, and there in no doubting the cultural significance of said film. Today the impact of computers is felt everywhere, from media to the stock market. From a small group of innovators to a worldwide phenomenon the computer has created and influenced a number of cultures.