Frequently Asked Questions

Note: I am putting these here because students have asked them in the past, this is not a reflection of what will be on quizzes.

Q: Are you actually being watched by your computers camera every time you open your laptop up? Do computers listen to what people say and generate ads from what they hear?

A: Hopefully not, no. While the technology does exist for hackers to do such a thing it is very unlikely that it is actually happening to you. The effect you experience of the computer sending you ads that are related to what you have been talking about recently is not generally because the computer is listening to you with a microphone, but more that it has kept track of all the things you have looked for online and can predict what you will be interested in.

Q: Can computers ever function fully independently of other computers? Even though there are four basic parts to a computer, one of the main things that we think of them doing now is connecting to the internet and being able to access it. Is this category something that should be relevant when deciding what a computer is or should just the four parts remain?

A: Yes, Computers existed for about 50 years before the invention of the internet and while internal wired networks existed before the internet there are still computers today that function without interacting with any other computer. While individuals often access the internet with computers, and doing so is a sub-discipline of computer science (networking), there and many of computing processes that are possible to study without accessing the internet.

Q: How does one computer contact another computer at all without physically touching? (like what kind of signal is being sent out)

A: Wifi and Bluetooth are some different kinds of radio signals that computers use to connect without cords.

Q: How will computers adjust to the impending constraints on global energy demand and the resulting effects on the natural environment? Will limited access to raw materials change the nature of microchip construction?

A: This is a big question that we as a society will soon have to grapple with!

Q: How do computer do all of this things in such a small space?

A: Computers used to be A LOT bigger filling entire floors of office buildings but then we changed to using transistors and since then the size of the transistor has determined a lot of the size of the computer.

Q: How advanced does a "computer" have to necessarily be? For example, can some for of non electronic device or tool count if it meets the requirements of an input, storage, process, and output?

A: This is a debate. We call the ENIAC the first computer because it was the first electronic re-programmable computer but there isn't a good solid definition of a computer that doesn't leave a bunch of things out.

Q: With how accurate algorithms are for search engines, how likely would a mistake be made on the processors part and provide inaccurate information?

A: Search engines are pretty good at their job, which is returning related information to the searched term that is relevant, but it is not their job to be accurate or to return true information. Often when information isn't relevant it is either because the company is biasing the results towards what it thinks you want or what will generate more profit for it. For example, Google results usually return videos on youtube, which is owned by google, before it returns video results on other platforms.

Q: Are tablets and phones ever considered to be a sub-group of computers?

A: Phones and Tablets are 100% computers. If you think about it the only real difference between a phone and a laptop is the size and how you get input in. Phones used to be debatable but ever since they stopped being landlines they have been computers.