NY Historic Soc Silicon City: Starting in NY

Way back when dinosours roamed…well, slightly later, but it seems archaic to imagine the time before iPhones, personal computers and technology factored in our daily lives.  It's fair to assume that millenials consider technology today as banal & mundane since they have been enmeshed with advanced technology since birth. The pertinent question is what led to technological inception. Motivation is the key to advancement which stems from need & problem solving.  Edison & Fleming developed the light bulb trying to provide incandescent, accessible light.  They developed vacum tubes which are incorporated into every computer. Samuel Morse (1838) frustated at the delay in receiving news of his wife's death, devloped the telegraph; an electromagnetic means of sending digital messages to transmit information instantaneously.  Herman Hollreith (1890) incorporated electromagnetic transmission with punch cards to make accounting and summarizing information more efficient. The imprint from this historic walk through technological advancements is while no specific invention from the 19th C led directly to today's computers, it's imperative to note technology is built on incremental innovations.  The school group I mingled with were more interested in their iphones than tuning in.  They were not duly impressed with much, including images from the 1964 World's Fair that seemed startling & proved prescient.  The Telstar 1 model did spark more interest.  Instead of transmitting signals under the ocean floor, information was first being sent skyward (1961) & transmitted back; "kindah like the cloud."  I empathized somewhat with a lack of enthusiam from students who viewed the exhibit as quaint.  The relics were all reproductions; authentic items would have caused more of a stir.  I too felt like a relic.