Although computer usage was initially confined to mathematical calculations and data processing, chips and networks have allowed computers to be applied to the field of human communications. As the marriage between communications technology and computers develops further, electronic mail, newspapers, and shopping will become commonplace, as will video phones. Through home computer terminals, no large than a pocket calculator, each person will be able to be in contact with numerous other people, as well as other computers and data banks around the globe. Many new horizons will open up, some of which are unimaginable today. The first three generations of computers were build from vacuum tubes, transistors, and integrated circuits, respectively.
Chips are fourth-generation machines.
Operating at temperatures near absolute zero, these computers will be about a hundred times faster than current machines. When the sixth generation appears, probably in the 1990s, we may well have computers that could equal the human brain in any intellectual activity. Once this stage is reached, we will see an even more fantastic acceleration in computing power. UIMs could be put to the task of designing better computers, and second-generation UIMs will be built with processing capabilities far beyond human intellectual abilities. Such a development, though it would represent the further evolution of intelligence, would not, however, be in line with the overall pattern of evolution.