Crash Course Computer Science #24 - The Cold War & Consumerism

Everything we've discussed so far emerged during a roughly __-year period.

• 25

• 30

• 50

• 100

The second half of the series will look more into modern computers and technology. This episode, however, will focus on...

• the historical backdrop of the Cold War

• the space race

• the rise of globalization and consumerism

• World War 2

The Cold War saw massive government spending in which sectors?

• science

• engineering

• literature

• visual arts

What was the first commercially successful computer?

• ENIAC

• EDVAC

• ATLAS

• UNIVAC

Famously, the UNIVAC 1 predicted what?

• the radioactive disaster of Chernobyl in 1986

• the USSR's Sputnik 1 launch in 1957

• the results of the presidential election in 1952

• all three economic recessions in the US, in 1960, 1970, and 1975

Machines of the past augmented human physical ability, while computers augmented

• social interactions

• human intellect

• human language

• mathematical theory

What did Vannevar Bush envision with the Memex?

• storage for all books, records, and communications

• exceedingly fast and flexible use

• ready-made encyclopedia's with associative trails

• a social networking system that allowed long distant communication

Vannevar Bush was the head of the US office of Scientific Research and Development during WWII. What's the peacetime equivalent, still around today?

• National Science Foundation

• NASA

• US Department of Agriculture

• National Institute of Health

What gadget from the 1950s was hugely popular and used transistors?

• blenders

• electric shavers

• radios

• washing machines

Japanese companies captured half the US market for portable radios in just _ years.

(a)