Why is the computer such an important machine? Can you answer my question?
If you are a child, you can say Because it plays such wonderful games…
If you are a mathematician, you can say Because it calculates every function in an instant…
If you are a musician, you can say Because it gives me the opportunity to compose and play every kind of music so easily…
If you are… anybody, you can say Because it gives me all the information I need, all the entertainment I need, all the contacts I need, every mental instrument I need, and more.
If you are a philosopher, you can say Because it is the first machine, that can imitate and even surpass man in the activity, which makes humans human — thinking. That’s just the point!
In this section, I’ll try to reveal some of the first men, who dreamed about a thinking machine and thought about automation, as well as the developers of some interesting early technologies
| Ramon Llull | Athanasius Kircher |
| Thomas Hobbes | Gottfried Leibniz |
| Jonathan Swift | Samuel Butler |
| The Automata | Early technologies |
The image featured at the top of this post is ©Dwight Ellefsen/FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images.