Advances in Technology

Throughout the book The Shallows, Nicholas Carr talks about certain advances that were made as the world evolved. He relates those advances in technology to the internet in his book. In chapter five, Carr talks about many advances and points out their importance to the internet. I agree with him throughout the chapter. One technology Carr talks about is the calculator. The calculator was invented by a man named Alan Turing. On page 82, Carr says, “Turing’s intent in writing the paper was to show there is no such thing as a perfect system of logic or mathematics, that there will always be some statements that cannot be proven either true or false, that will remain uncomputable.” By this I think he meant writing problems out or attempting to solve on paper and do all the work out is long and tedious. It is inaccurate at times and not done quick enough. Turing created this small computerized device called the calculator to fix that problem, or aid getting work done easier. I agree with what Carr writes in his book about calculators. Working with big numbers or solving a long problem should involve using a calculator. The calculator would be able to follow information typed into it, read, write, and erase directions given. This allows work to be quickly and easily solved. The calculator was then known as a universal machine, and over years, the calculator is continuously worked on to be even more efficient. Turing started out with a simple calculator, and has led society today to be upgraded to a graphing calculator, much more complex than his. Turing’s creation is one of the many that helped transform the internet to make it as useful and complex as it is. As Carr says, “the Net is a Turing machine of immeasurable power, and it is, true to form, subsuming most of our other intellectual technologies. It’s becoming our typewriter and our printing press, our map and our clock, our calculator and our telephone, our post office and our library, our radio and our TV” (83). Another point I agree on with Carr, the internet would not have evolved without inventions and discoveries such as the ones listed before.

     With the many inventions that led up to the internet, the Net has been able to evolve substantially. Newspaper articles were being put on web pages and modified to better qualities. Traditional sound-processing equipment like radios, phonographs, and tape decks were put up on the Net. The Net allowed people to download music for MP3 players. Telephone lines were also able to be routed through the internet to bypass traditional phone lines. There also was a breakthrough for movies to be put on the internet and watched on the computer, or through companies like Netflix and Apple that can access the internet through a TV. Internet telephone has also become a huge hit through programs such as Skype incorporate video transmissions. In chapter five, Carr talks about the advances in the internet, and I agree that the internet is able to do just about anything or will find a way to evolve more as time goes on.

- Jacque Rideout