Charles River Editors

In the last 50 years, life has been simplified by the awe-inspiring advancements that have been achieved in the world of computer science and technology. In 1976, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak unveiled the Apple I, the first-ever computer that operated on a single-circuit board, just five years after a team of IBM engineers introduced the “floppy disk,” which revolutionized data-sharing. In 1981, the first personal computer – IBM's Acorn – equipped with an optional color monitor, two floppy disks, and an intel chip was rolled out to the masses, and the dynamic evolution of the World Wide Web soon followed.

Today, the world is in the midst of the transformative and ever-developing Digital Age, otherwise referred to as the “Age of Information.” It has been an unprecedented, remarkable, and explosive era marked by social media and computer-generated imagery (and with it, deep fakes), among other novel, previously unimaginable concepts. The bulky monitors and blocky towers of personal computers and laptops, which were once upon a time considered fashionable, futuristic contraptions, have since been replaced with a sleek and stylish array – both multi-functional and specialized – of aerodynamic, minimalistic devices, ranging from smartphones and tablets to lightweight laptops and full-fledged gaming set-ups packed with powerhouse processors.

This new age was brought forth in large measure by the different works of scientists and mathematicians spanning several centuries, from Blaise Pascal's work on calculators to Charles Babbage's Difference Engine and Alan Turing's groundbreaking cryptography work.

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