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The Foundations of Computing and the Information Technology Age
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The Foundations of Computing and the Information Technology Age is a book both for undergraduate computing students and for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of technology in the modern world. Dispensing with simplistic explanations, the book first considers the evolution of the computer from the origins of number to the development of the microprocessor. It goes on to provide a theoretical explanation of computation and a practical demonstration of how a computer works. Using this as background, the text then examines the phenomenon of information technology within the broader context of modern science, culture and civilisation. In this way, the reader is drawn to consider how our technical, materialistic understandings have ignored the underlying reality from which all technology emerges: human consciousness.
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Features and Benefits
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- This text is designed to provide a broader and more informed historical perspective on information technology than is normally provided in a standard undergraduate degree program.
- Chapters 1 to 4 provide the historical background to the development of the first general purpose computing machines.
- Chapters 5 and 6 give a theoretical and practical account of how a universal computer works.
- Chapters 7 and 8 look at the role that information technology plays within the broader context of modern civilisation.
- Chapters 9 and 10 investigate the foundational issues of the nature of science, computation and human intelligence.
- Finally, the book is concerned with asking questions and challenging assumptions about technology. It can therefore be read both as a textbook and as an investigation and critique of modern technological civilisation.
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Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Early mathematical foundations
2. The birth of the modern era
3. The mechanical age
4. The universal machine
5. Computation in theory
6. Computation in practice
7. Information technology in theory
8. Information technology in practice
9. The scientific turn of mind
10. The question of consciousness
References
Index
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John Thornton is a Senior Lecturer at Griffith University’s School of Information and Communication Technology. He has published extensively in the area of artificial intelligence, including articles in the Journal of Logic and Computation, the Journal of Automated Reasoning and numerous papers in the world’s major artificial intelligence conferences, including the 2007 International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence where he received a distinguished paper award.
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