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The impact of the Web, computing, and electronics
The inventions of the Net and
the World
Wide Web by Tim
Berners-Lee (top picture) around 1990 has
revolutionized our lives as much as the wide-scale
introduction of TV at the beginnings of our 100 years. The middle
picture of the virtual Fermilab historical web marker (click for a
larger view) commemorates the introduction of the World Wide Web to
the Western Hemisphere by Fermilab and SLAC. The Web and the Net may
ultimately
have an impact of the magnitude of Columbus's discovery of America. The
Web rests on developments in electronics such as the transistor and
the integrated circuit, the digital computer that began its' life in
the forties, on computer programs, and the rise of
large-scale data bases. Many of these developments have been
exponential. Moore's law (click for a larger view) charts the
number
of transistors on a chip. The
number of transistors per chip has doubled every 18-24 months. This has
had an
astonishing impact and surprisingly, this trend may continue
throughout
our one hundred years. Similar trends hold for digital storage media
and databases.
Meanwhile computer speeds have increased accordingly.Taken together these developments strongly impact and interact with the other four great pillars of our 100 years - Quarks, the Big Bang, Space, and DNA.
The future of computing
Problems and challenges - Computer viruses are a serious and growing problem for computing and the Web. The approaching Kurzweil “singularity” may pose serious challenges. Qualifying internet and World Wide Web• programs and databases is ever more important and difficult. Finally better theories of computing, knowledge, and mind are sorely needed.