Modern Marvels

The History Channel’s documentary special Modern Marvels: Computers hones in on the computer – that central device that drives all of western society, from automobiles to banking to food processing to song composition. This program opens with the assertion of a quantum physicist that mankind is only on the cusp of its digital age, and that inconceivable advances for computers lie in the centuries to come. The film subsequently harkens back in time to Babbage’s early work, glimpses the evolution of the computer over the decades, and speculates about future developments. Along this journey through time, the program packs in dozens of insightful interviews with such luminaries as Apple founder Steve ‘Woz’ Wozniak, as well as a trip to the IBM-produced ASCI-White, the single most powerful system in the modern world., Computers are examined.