Early Computers 1960-96 by Stephanie Bacon
- Gregers Reimann
- Dec 12, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Dec 15, 2025
We invited Stephanie Bacon to tell us about the beginning of computers, as she was one of the very first people to work with this technology back in the UK in 1960, when she was only 18 years old. And she continued working with computers for the next 36 years. And what a journey it was in terms of technological development. Watch her talk as well as the Q&A session here:
Highlights from this 40 minute talk incl. Q&A session include:
Stephanie's take on artificial intelligence (AI)
The top three computer developments that amazed Stephanie. The top one being the invention of immediate access data storage.
The building stones of computing, such as the binary system.
Her experience working with paper punch cards and loading them into computers without any memory
Her difficulty explaining to her friends at the time what this new "computer thing" was all about
Her amazement with the development in computers, for example, getting own table top computer. Such a contrast to the early days, where it took five people to operate a computer the size of a room. And the computing strength of modern day handphones
A couple of Stephanie's quotes:
It's quite quite incredible, you know? If anybody told me back then that I was going to be sitting here today, talking in today's modern computer world. I wouldn't have believed them!
On artificial intelligence (AI):
Computers are not intelligent. They won't take over. They may become so powerful that we cannot control them. But you can get to the plug and pull it out, and the computer it stops working.
View or download Stephanie Bacon's slides "Early Days Computers 1960 - 1996":
Download the transcript of Stephanie Bacon's talk:
We look forward to inviting Stephanie Bacon back for more talks, as she and her late husband Harry were some of the green building pioneers in Malaysia who had a real influence on the nation's green policies. They built the CoolTek House, but that's a story for another time.....
Quick AI test shows that Stephanie was right!
The AI image creator function on of the Wix website was created this cartoon dialog illustration in an attempt to reflect our conversation with Stephanie Bacon about artificial intelligence (AI). This prompt, refined six times, was given to the AI image creator and it messed up the speech bubble text:
"A young man sits on the left side of a table. An old woman sits in the right side. A computer is placed in the middle of the table. Each of the two people have a separate speech bubble above their head. The speech bubble on the left has the exact text: "What's your opinion about AI?" The speech bubble on the right has the exact text: "It's not intelligent, but it's an Amazing Interface (AI)"
Do you agree with Stephanie that artificial intelligence is not intelligent?
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