Vannevar

2 definitions found

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  vannevar /van'*-var/ n. A bogus technological prediction or a
     foredoomed engineering concept, esp. one that fails by implicitly
     assuming that technologies develop linearly, incrementally, and in
     isolation from one another when in fact the learning curve tends to be
     highly nonlinear, revolutions are common, and competition is the rule.
     The prototype was Vannevar Bush's prediction of `electronic brains' the


     size of the Empire State Building with a Niagara-Falls-equivalent
     cooling system for their tubes and relays, a prediction made at a time
     when the semiconductor effect had already been demonstrated. Other
     famous vannevars have included magnetic-bubble memory, LISP machines,
     {videotex}, and a paper from the late 1970s that computed a purported
     ultimate limit on areal density for ICs that was in fact less than the
     routine densities of 5 years later.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  vannevar
       
           /van'*-var/ A bogus technological prediction or a
          foredoomed engineering concept, especially one that fails by
          implicitly assuming that technologies develop linearly,
          incrementally, and in isolation from one another when in fact
          the learning curve tends to be highly nonlinear, revolutions
          are common, and competition is the rule.  The prototype was
          Vannevar Bush's prediction of "electronic brains" the size of
          the Empire State Building with a Niagara-Falls-equivalent
          cooling system for their tubes and relays, a prediction made
          at a time when the semiconductor effect had already been
          demonstrated.  Other famous vannevars have included
          {magnetic-bubble memory}, {LISP machines}, {videotex}, and a
          paper from the late 1970s that computed a purported ultimate
          limit on areal density for {integrated circuits} that was in
          fact less than the routine densities of 5 years later.
       
          [{Jargon File}]
       
          (2000-02-29)