"The lever, the transistor, the vacuum tube and the computer all have something in common. They’re amplifiers, they allow a relatively small change or capabilit

"The lever, the transistor, the vacuum tube and the computer all have something in common. They’re amplifiers, they allow a relatively small change or capability in a domain to have a much larger effect." The article's premise unfortunately relies on a conflating of two or more distinct meanings for "amplify". A vacuum tube or transistor increases a pre-existing voltage or current level, but the thing being increased stays the same -- it's a change of scale. A computer amplifies a multidimensional capability like the ability to model reality using mathematics -- it's a change of scope. A computer isn't just a faster or stronger version of biological processing, although that happens to be true. Consistency, precision and scope come into the equation also. But "amplification" really doesn't describe what the computer does, any more than it describes what we do.