Functional Components and Integrated Circuits: Invention Today Synthesis in 2012 A.D.

In 1962, a group of fellows of the Institute of Radio Engineers (one of the ancestor organizations of the IEEE) was invited to undertake the hazardous task of transporting themselves forward in thought some 50 years and then presenting the accomplishments of communications, electronics, and computer science, as well as other scientific topics, during the thus scanned era of 1962–2012. Within reason, no physical or engineering limits were placed on their vision or imagination. The narratives or prophecies resulting from this enterprise are being presented each month over the next several years as both a retrospective of the twentieth century and a preview of the next century. Each predictive paper reprint from 1962 will be accompanied by a companion predictive paper that discusses not only the 1962 paper’s contents but also its underlying premises. The companion predictive paper will hopefully provide some insight into the evolution of the subject during the latter part of the twentieth century and what factors might play a role in the evolution of the subject in the future. The following is a brief quote from one paper from the 1962 predictive paper series, “The Potential of Progress-An Optimistic View” by C. G. Suits: