SOFT POWER

Software is an interesting word, isn't it?

In briefest summary, I was writing programs on the SWAC in 1953 at UCLA.  At the time, the SWAC was one of about a dozen computers in the whole U.S.  When I first hoked up the word -- to distinguish programs from hardware, of course -- people said, "Huh?"  I explained that 'soft' meant changeable.   People then and for years later kind of sneered "Software...[pause]...I see..."

Digital turns all cultural durity into software.  I suppose that's what people mean by the New Age.