The World Wide Weird

By Carl Weiss

English: Microchips (EPROM memory) with a transparent window, showing the integrated circuit inside. Uploaded by Richard Wheeler (Zephyris) 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Who would have thought when Robert Noyce invented and patented the silicon based integrated circuit way back in 1959 that the world would forever more be changed.  While the initial uses for the computer chip were initially limited to big business and military applications, within a dozen years, the computer revolution would enter consumer electronics with the founding of Apple Computer.  Since then the integrated circuit has become part of virtually every consumer electronic gadget from cellphones and televisions to the cars we drive.  Just when you think that just about every possible application has been thought up, some enterprising entrepreneur comes up with another use for the computer chip.  While there are a number of useful creations such as medical prosthetics that have been known to improve the quality of life for many, what I want to bring to you today are the “out there” applications that seem to be some sort of technological outgrowth of the lunatic fringe.