how did the TV, computer, and telephone have such a vast reduction in size and are able to do you so much more at a much higher quality?
In: Technology
TVs and computers used to use a different method of displaying the image on the screen. ([Cathode Ray Tube](https://techterms.com/definition/crt))
They used to work like a projector, inside the back end of the tv box a device would shoot the image onto the TV/PC screen.
Now we have liquid Crystal and light emitting diode displays which are essentially a sheet of individual pixels that change colors to represent the image being displayed.
Bundle that with shrinking the size of the hardware inside (basically by squeezing everything closer together than we could decades ago) and you’ve got smaller devices.
The exact answer is different for each of those things, but it seems like the basic question is how did we manage to get more processing power on smaller devices.
The simple answer is we managed to find ways to fit more transistors (things which tell electricity what to do) onto computer chips. Some of that was by finding new materials to use for the transistors, some of it was by using things like lasers and UV light to add things far to small for any hand or machine to add manually.
There’s a famous law in computing called Moore’s Law, which (paraphrased) states that the number of transistors you can fit per inch doubles every 18 months. That was changed to processing power doubles every 18 months along the way because the number of transistors isn’t the only thing being changed, nor is it necessarily the most important, and at this point it’s more of an aspirational goal that chip makers look towards than a law or prediction.
In short, we used new materials like germanium and silicon, along with new techniques like using light to “burn” things onto the chips instead of physically putting them there, which let us fit more and more stuff into the same space.
The main technology that makes all of that happen is the transistor – a little gate that can let electricity through or prevent it from flowing through.
Currently, they are as small as single-digit nanometers in length. Thats significantly smaller than a human hair. The technology needed to be able to manufacture that level of precision is not something we’ve had access to for long.
Our ability to manufacture those transistors at smaller and smaller sizes is ultimately what has been the limiting factor. Over time, we’ve seen these shrink at a pretty predictable rate – and the advancements made in every sector that relies on them have improved along with them.
If someone wanted to change to past to have a better future he wouldn’t have to kill hitler or something like that, he’d have to bring back to the past our current level of technology.
By millions of people devoting their precious time and energy. Busting their butts. Converting calories and coffee into innovation.
Believe it or not, improvements in optics. Microchips are made by projecting an image onto some chemicals. Every time the lenses that do this get better, we can fit more ‘parts’ onto an individual chip. We’re up into the billions!
In addition to everyone else’s answers, the invention of LEDs served to reduce the size of basically anything with a screen. They are both smaller and more energy efficient, meaning less space to hold them, less space to account for power management, and heat dissipation.
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