The Universal Machine: From the Dawn of Computing to Digital Consciousness

Watson, Ian:

ISBN 10: 364228101X / ISBN 13: 9783642281013

Published by Copernicus 05.2012., 2012

About this Item

368 Seiten Fresh and clean copy in good condition. Frisches und sauberes Exemplar in gutem Zustand. Contents - Chapter 1: Introduction - The Difference Engine - The First Computers - The Grandfather of Computing - Babbage Goes Public - The Analytical Engine - The Enchantress of Numbers - The Difference Engine No.2 - A Swedish DoppelgÄnger - Babbage s Legacy - We the People - Soldiers and Secretaries - The Sound of Money - Weighing, Counting, Timing and Tabulating - Chapter 4: Computers Go to War - The Turing Machine - Total War - Chasing an Enigma - Hitler s Secret Writer - Colossus - Calculating Space - The Turing Test - To Die Perchance to Sleep - Turing s Legacy - Chapter 5: Computers and Big Business - ENIAC - EDVAC - The Mainframe - The Lyons Electronic Office - Electronic Recording Machine-Accounting - Fly the American Way - Chapter 6: Deadheads and Propeller Heads - Augmenting Human Intellect - Stanford University and Silicon Valley - SAIL - Playing in the PARC - Inventing the Future - Chapter 7: The Computer Gets Personal - Woz - Phreaking, Jokes and Jobs - Homebrew and the Birth of Apple - A PC on Every Desk - Killer Apps - It s All About the Software - Pirates and Entrepreneurs - The Deal of the Century - 1984 - Chapter 8: Weaving the Web - Vague But Exciting - Explosive Growth - A Network of Networks - You ve Got Mail! - An Electronic Notice Board - The Browser Wars - A Needle in a Million Haystacks - Chapter 9: Dotcom - Power to the People - Search and You Will Find - Everything from A to Z - I Collect Broken Laser Pointers! - It s Good to Share - The Dotcom Bubble - Chapter 10: The Second Coming - Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish - Change the World - What s NeXT - Some Light Entertainment - Act II - All Your Music in Your Pocket - I Wanted One so Much it Hurt? - Post-PC - RIP - Chapter 11: Web 2.0 - Let Me Share with You - Harvard s Face Books - Identical Twins - The Next Big Thing - Ambient Intimacy - LOLcats - Citizen Journalism - 140 Characters or Less - All the World s Knowledge - Chapter 12: Digital Underworld - The Birth of Hacking - Captain Crunch - Cyberpunks - The Hacker Manifesto - Worms, Viruses and Trojans - Good Guys and Bad Guys - Hacktivism - Cyberwar - Chapter 13: Machines of Loving Grace - How Far Is the Future? - Moore s Law - The Near Future - Cloud Computing - Computing as a Utility - Hands-Free - Augmented Reality - A Grand Challenge - Chapter 14: Digital Consciousness - The Imitation Game - The Chinese Room - The Robots Are Coming - Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots - Resistance is Futile - Spooky Action - Reverse Engineering the Brain - Epilogue - From the Dawn of Computing to Digital Consciousness ISBN 9783642281013 Sprache: Englisch Gewicht in Gramm: 518.

Seller Inventory # 1253545

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Universal Machine: From the Dawn of Computing to Digital Consciousness
• Publisher: Copernicus 05.2012.
• Publication Date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 364228101X
• ISBN 13: 9783642281013
• Binding: , Softcover/Paperback
• Edition: Auflage: 2012.
• Condition: Gut
• Weight: 518 grams
• Seller catalogs:
  • Varia

About this title

Synopsis

Question: who invented the computer?

Hint: not Bill Gates or Steve Jobs.

Would you be surprised to know that the computer was conceived in Victorian times?

The Universal Machine's history is as colorful as the people who created it. They include an aristocratic lady whose talents and lifestyle were quite scandalous at the time, the tragic Alan Turing, whose genius helped win WWII, and a rag-tag bunch of dropouts who not only shaped the PC, but gave birth to the counter-culture that drives Silicon Valley today. To understand the pivotal role that computers play in our lives, you must get to know these people to see how their innovative thinking changed our lives irrevocably, and made and lost fortunes overnight.

This book also tracks some of the more intriguing (if not baffling) developments, from hacking to social networking, and demonstrates how the computer has become central to everything we do.

So, take the plunge. Learn how the Analytical Engine became a Universal Machine, and shrank from a monster that required a room of its own, to something that fits into your pocket and one day soon will be part of you.

About the Author

Ian Watson is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He has published two textbooks and over one hundred scientific papers, on various aspects of artificial intelligence and is a regular speaker at computer science conferences worldwide. He also makes regular contributions to the popular NZ computer magazine NetGuide.