{"id":2817,"date":"2014-11-24T12:01:59","date_gmt":"2014-11-24T19:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/?p=2817"},"modified":"2015-10-08T11:48:14","modified_gmt":"2015-10-08T18:48:14","slug":"ada-lovelace-al-gore-bill-gates-steve-jobs-google-and-where-they-took-us-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cynthiasamuels.com\/blog\/2014\/11\/24\/ada-lovelace-al-gore-bill-gates-steve-jobs-google-and-where-they-took-us-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Ada Lovelace, Al Gore, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Google and Where They Took Us All"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"handshake<\/a>You know what? \u00a0Not only did Al Gore never<\/em> say that he invented the Internet<\/a>, but he was one of its best advocates and understood the importance of the slew of people who really did. \u00a0They’re part of a surprisingly exciting and remarkable story told by Walter Isaacson in\u00a0<\/span>The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution<\/a>. \u00a0 It’s a fast-paced tour through the\u00a0<\/span>evolution of modern technology, from the prophetic work of <\/span>Charles Babbage<\/a> and <\/span>Ada Lovelace<\/a> (aka Lord Byron’s daughter) through the first computers, programming, the unsung (big surprise) but enormous contribution made by women technologists, transistors, microchips, video games, the Internet and the Web, as well as personal computees to access it. \u00a0The story is pretty amazing and yes, inspiring.<\/span><\/p>\n

The people behind these developments, and the process that carried them, provide a rich narrative and a couple of surprising through-lines. \u00a0First, about patents and Nobel prizes: the men (and women) who brought us from The Difference Engine<\/a> to the microchip to the Internet of Everything<\/a> were not\u00a0hoarders. \u00a0Although many of them received patents and made money from their work, rather than withholding developments, most shared them, even\u00a0precise details. \u00a0They collaborated to build upon\u00a0the genius of the ones before. \u00a0Secondly, much of their work, basic development and science as well as more sophisticated details, was funded by governments; a lot of the American work was funded under Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower. \u00a0He saw American science leadership as a national security issue, and, as we consider what emerged from that federal funding, it’s hard to argue.<\/p>\n

There are dozens of anecdotes as well as illuminating biographical profiles in The Innovators, including Alan Turing, currently played by Benedict Cumberbatch<\/a> in the highly anticipated film\u00a0The Imitation Game<\/a>\u00a0(Isaacson interviews the cast below). \u00a0 Each story is a worthy candidate for inclusion here. \u00a0Better though, that like these heroic creators of what became our present and future, you read the book and discover them for yourself.<\/p>\n