Looking back at technology from the past can show just how much things have changed. Computers from the 1970s, for example, were very different from the small, powerful devices we use today. A book from 1975 titled “How a Computer System Works” offers a look into how these machines were understood and explained at that specific point in time. It gives us a glimpse into what you could call “Paleotechnology.”
In 1975, computers were not common household items. They were large machines, often taking up entire rooms, used mainly by big companies, universities, and government organizations. These computers weren’t sleek, quiet boxes; they were more like gigantic systems with visible parts that sometimes made whirring or clicking sounds as they worked. A book explaining them at the time would have to describe these physical components.
