Stephen Hawking in a Public

Stephen Hawking In a public lecture entitled "Life in the Universe," Stephen Hawking raised the question about the existence of intelligent life elsewhere than on Earth. It is a question that has long intrigued both scientists and philosophers. It is likely that we are not alone in the Universe. With the opportunity to make a connection with a being that is not from our world, one would want to select an object that would be illustrative of life on Earth and do much to explain its people.

For such a trip, I would take a 3G iPad. For the purpose of this paper, we shall assume that the 3G network extends to the location where the meeting with the Being is to take place. Personal Computers: The Link Between the Past and the Future Most people consider the widespread use of the personal computer to be the defining event of twentieth century culture.

From the mid-1970s, when rudimentary home computers were the toys of geeks and gamers, to the mid-1990s and the explosion of Microsoft's Windows 95, the use of computers grew. They became a reality rather than something out of a science fiction story. Use of the Internet also grew rapidly at the end of the twentieth century. At first, very few were sure that money could be made.

No one could have possibly imagined how the Internet impacted so many facets of daily life: business, entertainment, education, shopping and personal banking, to name just a few. Apple, Inc. has always been on the cutting edge of technology. The company's desire to provide user-friendly products with unique aesthetic appeal has provided the impetus for competition among the makers on consumer electronics. Apple's intuitive graphical user interface spurred the competition, Microsoft, to develop a similar interface with Windows. In the 1990s, Apple offered consumers color choices with the stylish iMac.

A few years later, they offered flat screen technology and eliminated the cumbersome central processing unit. They revolutionized personal listening devices with the iPod and changed the music industry forever with the launching of iTunes. Touch technology made the iPhone an instant sensation and effectively made every other cell phone, including the once-cutting edge Blackberry, seem almost old-fashioned. Likewise, the iPad has changed the face of personal computing, with thousands of fun and useful apps that consumers can only access as iPad users.

The iPad has taken personal computing to a new level, and for that reason I would choose it to represent modern society. Before the iPad, there were a variety of laptop and netbook computers, portable music players, portable DVD players, cell phones and handheld gaming devices. The iPad has brought together the functionality of these devices with a highly intuitive, user-friendly interface. It is much more than a high-tech toy, although as a toy its possibilities are nearly endless.

It is a machine that can be used in personal life, in business, in health care, and in education. New apps are available daily that cover a broad spectrum of consumer wants.