Some guys came along and did our civilization a great favor. Among them were George Boole, Alan Turing and a fellow who chose to call himself John von Neumann. George Boole encoded the language of binary in a formal way. Alan Turing created a math model of a general machine that was greatly simple. Von Neumann developed a practical, implementable version, parallel development occurred in other countries. The governmental/corporate nexus that runs recent mega-societies and staged the cold war has dependably invested in the development of faster, smaller, wider and cheaper machines. Memory chips, I should mention, are actually more central to digital computing than processor chips. One could build a computer using only memory chips. One could build a computer using only logic chips.
It seems that algorithm development has flowered in this context (having machines to run code on) as well. Computer programming languages get a little better as time goes on, mostly.
Microprocessors are well on their way to becoming the kudzu of solution for engineering electronics projects, as well they should. Linear guys like to remind us that in his early implementation of a computer, John von Neumann used an acoustically-excited mercury column dynamic shift-register for his memory set-up down as SIU. This was attended by a handful of 'analog guys.' Just that CPU projects are better group projects due to the architectural standardization implied is reason enough to go uP.
But as you moderns may feel wont, sometimes, to chuckle at the prior tech, with its jelly beans, artifact-driven byzantine analog structures, elaborate mechanisms, the differential equations and slide-rules that underlie them, 1K memories and 2MHz nybble and byte (and bit-slice) processors, I direct you to contemplate our second most visible astronomical structure. And whose footprints (and for all I know trash) are upon it. Who left the monument to Yuri Gagarin upon it. Beginning with Operation Paperclip, this was probably one of the greatest engineering achievements since the aqueduct. Achieved with this now seemingly crude technology. And lots and lots of aviation kerosine, H2 and LOX, not to mention the hypergolics for the retros, nor the tragedy that led to the discovery of the right cabin mix, ***! just did, shouldn't ignore Baikonur. By men and women wearing pocket-protectors, often smoking cigs by the skid.
I ask for a little respect for the sometimes fuzzy-appearing arm-waivers of the prior technologic era who have led us to this day of convenience and ready knowledge. Even a nod to all of the gallant researchers who explored channels that didn't pan out economically in the end. We learn from mistakes. I hope. I think we learn from our mistakes if we are disposed to and organized to learn from our mistakes. But also, we must keep an eye out for the genuine novelty of the current situation.
I digress. All I am saying is that we all find ourselves imbedded in history. The past can seem silly when one is already possessed of the answers the players were seeking. But it wasn't for the players. It was earnest and dangerous and contingent.