Pioneering Computer To Be Rebuilt in UK

The BBC reported that the UK's Computer Conservation Society has commissioned a project to rebuild what was characterized as "the first recognizably modern computer." (See photo at left for a look at this mechanical leviathan.) The device will be housed in Bletchley Park, famous as the domain where British scientists unlocked the Nazis' Enigma secret codes. Their work certainly aided Allied war efforts and in all likelihood shortened the dreadful conflict.

The news rather neatly dovetailed with the notice that Apple Computer has offered a $10,000 iTunes gift card to the individual who generates the 10 billionth download from the Apple App Store. Yes, computers have come a long way in less than a century. Have human beings "progressed" at the same rate, with the same quality, and equal purpose, as computational machines? Let's put it this way: do you trust yourself, or do you place higher faith in "spell check"?