Digitalization is how computers work. Small packets of discrete data are compacted into bits and bytes which fly along sequentially, like single-file soldiers marching double time. In earlier analog systems, data flows in continuous, variable and wavy streams, like water in a river. The variability reduces speed and quality. Digital TV broadcasting and communications satellites are replacing analog systems with the hope of furnishing theater-quality pictures and surround sound in living rooms.
Digital cameras provide instant pictures that download to a computer and viewed in a heartbeat.
It probably won t be long before we have a digital oven that roasts a turkey in half the time while playing Beethoven. The evolution of the computer is the equivalent of the invention of the wheel in prehistoric times. Just as advances in television technology during the 1980s put two TVs in every house, advances in chips and processors in the 90s have placed personal computers within reach of ordinary people. At the dawn of the computer age a half-century ago, visionaries foretold a glorious era of human progress. Automation would release us from routine and manual labor and increase productivity.