• Question: why do we have coputers?

    Asked by josua2k to Austin, Kirsty, Nicola, Nike, Sarah on 18 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Kirsty Ross

      Kirsty Ross answered on 18 Jun 2012:


      Since computers were invented, they have become an essential part of everyday life. Imagine trying to go anywhere in a car built after 1980 or so, it has a computer. You can’t visit the Internet and ask me questions here! You might be able to make a phone call if you have a really old phone. TV, all programs are manipulated in some form or fashion via computer. They are important in hospitals, planes, shops and banks. There would be no YouTube, SatNav or Pixar. It is difficult to imagine a world without computers now.

      You can play outside, or take a long walk or have a picnic without the aid of a computer or computing device. I try and turn my mobile off when I go on holiday, as I’d get distracted by emails coming through!

    • Photo: Austin Elliott

      Austin Elliott answered on 18 Jun 2012:


      When I started in science in the 1980s, the Professor who ran the lab I worked in once told me he’d had to do a calculation as a young scientist that took him two weeks, because all the numbers had to be calculated with an abacus, or log tables. Then he said

      “If I’d had the sort of electronic calculator you can buy for £ 10 now, I could have done the whole calculation in about an hour”.

      Anyway, one answer, leading on from that, is that computers let you do all sorts of stuff that would have been pretty much impossible before they were around. An example in science is the gene-sequencing projects, like the human genome one. And the internet is another, of course.

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