Published on July 8, 2024, 12:28 am

Stepping back into 1979, during my high school senior year, it was an awe-inspiring revelation when I was informed of our modest, farm town educational institution acquiring a computer terminal. The terminal wasn’t exactly a ‘computer’ as it failed to stand alone. It essentially included a small screen with green text, a keyboard and all-important modem. This pioneering terminal established its connection with the mainframe computer stationed at Northern Iowa University through the modem.

This outmoded setup involved removing the handset from an adjacent, rotary-dial desktop phone, placing it on a special cradle and dialing up the university’s main machine number. If fortune favored you, the connection was fruitful. A technologically adept friend of mine then taught me to input simplistic coding programs into this system.

First encounters with this rudimentary technology were astounding for a country boy whose only prior knowledge of computers was gleaned from Captain James T. Kirk’s communication with Enterprise’s state-of-the-art main computer in popular narratives.

Fast forward to 1995; my first PC purchase condemned me to grappling with a bulky IBM 486/66 running Windows 3.0 that boasted one megabyte RAM and an apparently large-scale hard drive of 120 megabytes. To accompany these now antiquated features, there resided also a humble 3.5-inch floppy disk drive.

With time this machine fell prey to technological evolution and soon became obsolete. The subsequent age ushered technologies such as terabyte scale solid-state drives and cloud storage setting current norms in the tech-verse.

Surprisingly enough despite being hailed as champions of modern technology Japan has till recently continued utilizing the traditional floppy disks until recent declassification by Japanese authorities marking their technological transition after two decades battling legacy systems such as fax machines prevalent in government departments.

While governments adapt universally towards embracing modern Facsimiles, let us not forget historical remnants such as hand grinding seals or “hanko” extensively used for document authentication in public or private sectors. These can act as a declaration of personal identity, a symbol of the respective user’s origins.

Modestly reflecting back on my experience working in the Land of Rising Sun for approximately seven months – I was fortunate to have a Kanji approximation of my name crafted by a local hanko craftsman, a souvenir maintaining its respect in my belongings till today. It indeed symbolizes Japan’s rich cultural background, one that hopefully will survive despite ongoing technological progression.

Although computer technologies continue progressing at an unmatched speed compared with the 90s where every new computer fell outdated even before reaching customer hands from the outlet shop – it signifies our endless journey in this information revolution.

Regardless of the vanishing floppy disks usage or evolving adaptation trends elsewhere; global technological growth persists unending! As we evaluate technology from the perspective of our Christian worldview, we must not forget to balance our embrace of change with respect and value for culture and tradition. Rest assured, future awaits with intriguing promises; maybe that much fantasized about holodeck won’t remain elusive much longer!

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