The Future Then
Supercomputers, search functions and the scattering of personal data to the four winds

Computer Visualization of a Black Hole Emission

Now that we've spent this week looking at all the incredible ways data is gathered, computed, analyzed and used, we thought we'd take a look through the archives to see how we got to this data age to begin with.


Click here to launch the archive gallery.

The earliest goliath computers were built by the Army and the Navy, not for civilian use. Flash forward to the late 60s, when civilians could rent computers to use for their own complex calculations (read: taxes). The next step was getting computers to understand queries posed in simple English, rather than just relying on complex computing languages, making them easier for laypeople to use. We sped up the data crunching by giving computers logical reasoning, faster search skills and multiple processors, and before long, they were helping design aircraft and visualizing energy emissions from black holes (seen above). And now, we've gotten so good at storing and finding data that we have to be careful, because wherever we go, we leave traces of ourselves.

Learn about all this and more through PopSci's coverage over the years in this week's archive gallery.

9 Comments

I can't view the gallery:
"ACCESS DENIED
You are not authorized to access this page."

aleph13, I can access it.

Maybe this will help. Rub you head with one hand, rub your tummy with the other, use you left foot to click you mouse, and put 5 quarters in the side of your computer?

aleph13, I can access it.

Maybe this will help. Rub you head with one hand, rub your tummy with the other, use you left foot to click you mouse, and put 5 quarters in the side of your computer?

I also get:

"ACCESS DENIED
You are not authorized to access this page."

Even when I am logged in on the site.

I also get the access denied message even though I'm logged in. I tried this on chrome, firefox and safari. all with the same message.

Grunt, I see you're a troll.

Maybe this will help. say something useful or go back under your bridge and say it to yourself. also once is enough.

Dear formlessness,
I was not trying to invoke trollism to you or anyone else. I just thought something a little funny and wrote it. It has been several days now and people have comment much to the dysfunction of this webpage and not the article. I suppose the webmaster is home for the weekend and enjoying him\herself with family and friends. Still, Friday, you think the problem would be fixed at the first comment. I am not the problem. I just offered humor you did not appreciate.
My one post, posted twice, this was another dysfunction of this webpage and not my doing.
My intention was good. Have a nice weekend sir.

ACCESS DENIED
DENIED
DENIED
ULTRA-KILL
MEGA-KILL
GODLIKE
UNSTOPPABLE
WICKED
GODLIKE

" Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." Albert Einstein



June 2013: American Energy Independence

Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more.


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