hist 390

This week left me clueless, which is not necessarily the worst thing. We discussed a good portion of the classes this week about Claude Shannon, a man who apparently is crucially important to this age, yet so unidentifiable to the common man. His work on information being probable is brilliant. I could have never made such a simple, but complex idea. Besides Shannon, I was amazed at the ideas made by others during his time as well, like Alan Turning, John Searle and Tim Berners-Lee.

 

While we were talking about these people and their contribution to the world, I could not help but feel so stupid. I kept thinking to myself, “how the hell did he think of that?” It amazes me how the human mind has thought of the most revolutionary ideas and implicated them into our lives. I had never given two thoughts as to how the internet works or how it came to be. My level of ignorance to computers and how they work is still at an all-time low, but at least I can nonchalantly mention to my snobby, computer science major, friends that I know who Claude Shannon is and that I semi-know what the ENIAC is.

 

Another topic that came up was how this time of advanced technology came as a result from the Cold War. I knew the basics of the United States and Soviet Union in competition with everything, but I did not know the details of what was the actual outcome. Who would have ever thought that something other than high egos and competition came out of the Cold War?

 

I am forever grateful for the genius minds that have been given to humanity. Sadly, I am not a genius and I am completely fine with that. I prefer to be in an ignorant bliss and absorb the knowledge. If I come up with the next world changing idea, then I would like to be Claude Shannon, a person that made the most impact but is kept a secret.

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