MECM90041 Chap.6 How Computing and the Internet Were Built

How Computing and the Internet Were Built

The history moves from mechanical instruction and calculation through information theory, cybernetics, semiconductors, Cold War research, packet switching and protocol standardisation.

Packet routing can be distributed while standards, access and gateways remain governed.

The web combines addressing, transfer and markup through a client-server request cycle; first-connection dates do not equal mass access.

Chapter guide expansion.

· C6 · MECHANICAL LINEAGE CHAPTER 6 · PAGE 1 WEEK 4 · LINEAGE Computing has a mechanical and organisational prehistory Loom, engine and tabulator organise operations before electronics The week-four lecture moves from calculating machines to communication systems. The loom, difference engine and tabulator matter because each reorganises a relationship among instruction, material operation and record.

Their sequence should not be read as a lone-inventor march toward the contemporary computer. It shows problems of automation, repeatability and administration taking material form inside industrial and state institutions.

loom engine tabulator transistor microprocessor calculation becomes communication infrastructure Figure 6.1. A rebuilt lineage emphasises the shift from mechanical operation to electronic components and communication infrastructure.

Ask what each machine reorganised Object Operation Institutional relation Programmable loom Pattern encoded outside the craft gesture Instruction, skill and textile production Difference engine Calculation decomposed into repeatable mechanism Scientific and administrative accuracy Tabulator Records converted into machine-readable categories Population, bureaucracy and scale Electronic computer Logical operation accelerated and generalised Military, scientific and commercial coordination Prehistory is not destiny Earlier machines supply concepts and components, but funding, war, administration and markets select particular paths.

Categories become infrastructure A tabulator does not merely process facts; its fields decide what can be counted and acted on. The history of computing is also a history of making instructions and populations machine-readable. HISTORICAL METHOD C6.1 LINEAGE TEST AskSia practice Prompt. Why is a tabulator politically significant? Worked answer.

It scales administrative classification and action; analyse who defines categories, which records become authoritative and what falls outside them. · · C6 · INFORMATION CHAPTER 6 · PAGE 2 INFORMATION + CYBERNETICS Information theory defines a communication problem Signal, noise and feedback become technical objects The lecture presents the fundamental problem of communication alongside cybernetics and teleological systems.

Information theory abstracts communication into signal transmission under noise; cybernetics foregrounds control and feedback in systems oriented toward goals. These abstractions are powerful because they travel across machines, organisms and organisations. They are also reductions: meaning, history and power do not disappear merely because transmission can be modelled technically.

Keep three levels separate Level Question What it cannot settle alone Transmission Can a signal be encoded and recovered? Whether the message is true, just or meaningful Feedback How does a system compare outcome with target? Who chose the target Control Which action follows from measured difference? Who bears error and can contest the rule Purpose Toward what state is the system organised?

Whether that purpose is socially legitimate Noise is relational What one system treats as noise may be meaningful variation to a community or another system. Classification serves a purpose. Feedback can discipline A measured deviation becomes consequential when an institution ties it to correction, reward or exclusion. CYBERNETIC QUESTION SIGNAL → comparison → feedback → action WHO SETS THE TARGET?

C6.2 FEEDBACK AUDIT AskSia practice Prompt. A dashboard flags low engagement. What is missing? Worked answer. Define engagement, the target, the error rate, the corrective action and who can challenge the interpretation. ! Do not confuse information with meaning A system may transmit symbols reliably while participants disagree about interpretation, value or consequence.

· · C6 · HARDWARE CHAPTER 6 · PAGE 3 1947 → 1971 The hardware chain compresses switching and scale Transistor, silicon, integrated circuit and microprocessor The lecture dates a hardware sequence: transistor in 1947, silicon semiconductor in 1954, integrated circuit in 1957 and microprocessor in 1971. These dates matter as anchors, not as a complete invention history.

Miniaturisation and integration reduce the space and cost of switching while increasing the number of operations assembled in one component. Commercial use depends on fabrication, standards, labour and institutional demand. From component to capability Development Technical change Political-economic question Transistor Electronic switching without a vacuum tube Which research and industrial systems supported development?

Silicon semiconductor A material base for reliable devices Where are materials and fabrication located? Integrated circuit Multiple components

What this chapter covers

• 01

  Mechanical lineage

• 02

  Information and feedback

• 03

  1947–1971 hardware chain

• 04

  Packet switching

• 05

  Protocols and the web

Routing and governance

Key terms

Protocol

A rule for communication among systems.

Packet switching

Segmented messages routed and reassembled across a network.

Cybernetics

Study of control and feedback in goal-oriented systems.

How Computing and the Internet Were Built FAQ

Assessment move

Pair every technical operation with its funding institution, architecture, diffusion path and political consequence.

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