Monday, September 29, 2014
On Guard! The Story of SAGE: IBM Corporation
This video talks about the advancements that IBM made in the computer industry and how they applied them to military tactics. It is mainly geared towards military personnel, but it also addresses families and civilians by claiming that these computers can make our country safer. I believe that this video is important because one of the main reasons that computers were able to advance so far is due to military funding.
This video relates to us because a lot of the advancements that IBM made for the military lead to the technology we have today. First, IBM was asked by the military to create a computer that displayed information at a glance. From this request IBM created the display scope, which was the first computer to display information on a screen. All other computers just printed out the information on printers. Because IBM was able to figure out how to print out information on computer screens, we are now able to utilize this and in fact do so everyday. Second, they made advancements in plane technology. They were one of the first companies to put computers and graphic radar into planes. Both of which are still used today. Due to this advancement we are now able to fly safer and smarter. Finally, they were able to track where planes were located and what time they left from a certain area. Does this sound familiar? Without IBM we would not be able to check when our flights were going to depart and arrive in certain cities. Imagine for a moment having to guess without knowing when your plane was going to arrive.
All of the advancements created by IBM for the military helped to move the computer forward for us as consumers today. Without them we would not have data readable on screens, or the technology that guide the planes we fly on. They helped to weave the silver lining that connects the world. I personally only knew IBM for the cash registers they have at McDonalds, but in fact they are more innovative than most people might think.
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This was a very interesting piece about IBM. A lot of these big technology projects require a lot of funding so it seems like a lot of major developments have been funded by the government for military purposes, but then are used in everyday life. This reminds me of the GPS, which was originally designed for the military, but is now something that most people have on their phones. This video shows that some practices such as government funding have not changed, but also gives a glimpse of how far computer technology has come. I never even knew that computers did not have display screens at some point, so that was interesting to here and makes sense now that I have read it.
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