Answering Other's Questions Take 2

Questions from http://maggiestillatlas2000class.blogspot.com/

1.) Tools for Thought Chapter 1 and 2: 
When it states the difference between today's personal computers and tomorrow's intelligent devices will have less to do with their hardware than their software---- can you explain in more detail?
Hardware is a collection of physical components that make up a computer whereas software is the collection of computer programs that tell the computer how to operate. So I think what is being said here is that in the future hardware and the physical elements will be so much less important than the innovations in software that they're irrelevant. So much attention now is focused on the physicality and looks of the inner and outer computer design and that will all be obsolete compared to the software advancements yet to come. I am constantly in awe of the software updates on my iphone.Siri now reads my maps to me like a GPS and I can even book a flight on my phone... I can't even imagine what more updates there are going to be in the future. 

2.) The Political Power of Social Media
Explain the thought that the use of social media tools do not have a single preordained outcome?
I think what this means is that social media is an unpredictable tool in politics as well as everyday life. When posting something on a social website, you cannot predict how the audience will respond to it. It depends on the context or the experience of the reader and many other factors. That is what's scary about social media taking over so predominantly... especially since things we see on social media websites aren't always accurate. I remember reading crazy celebrity death rumors, people's crazy statuses from being hacked on Facebook, and many other stories that always make me question what is real or who to trust.

3. The Internet Revolution
What did they use before the mouse?
This is a question that I also was curious about! Since I did not know the answer, I looked it up. It turns out there was no need for a mouse with the original computers. Early computers were text based and only required a keyboard designed to handle computer code. The mouse we use today was invented by a man named Bill English in 1972.