Technological Evolution: Electronics Technology

We often hear people today talking about the predicted timetables for the appearance of the next new and exciting technologies. If the rapid technological development that took place in the 20th Century is any guide, it would appear likely that many of these developments may well be routine items utilized in every day life long before even their initial emergence is now being predicted. Whether this rate of development may or may not hold out is still questionable, but there are presently very few indicators that it will not. And while many new developments of the 20th Century provoked certain (warranted and unwarranted) fears of technological developments outstripping our capacity to keep up with them, so many new wonders of science became commonplace during this time that the prospects for our new century are no less than astounding.

Of course, as is often said, to know where we are going, we must know where we have been. Precisely this path of development is what so many people study so as to be able to gauge the potential rates of technological growth that await us in the future. These studies point to a technological evolution which is not altogether unlike natural evolution: certain changes occurred slowly, in a piecemeal fashion, but this slow evolution was punctuated by sets of major breakthroughs which sped the rate of development many times more or less suddenly.

For the student of technology, or for the merely curious, there are numerous web sites on the Internet which feature all sorts of information on the development of electronics in the 20th Century. So many years later, some of the stories of certain developments still retain their uniquely fascinating aspect. To learn how we got from there to here, check out this Internet to learn more about where, exactly, "there" was.