But as computer society has evolved, many machines have quietly declined to speak with us, preferring instead to communicate with like-minded life forms.

FORBES: Cyber Security And The Rise Of The Silicon-Based Life Form

Tony Sale was the brilliant engineer who rebuilt the Colossus computer, established The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park and founded the Computer Conservation Society.

BBC: Restoration award for love letter writer

Until a few years ago, the main function of computer systems in society, and business in particular, was as a digital support system.

FORBES: Big Data is Creating A Digital Nervous System

We must not lose sight, however, of the larger problem: The Millennium Bug's potential for devastation of an advanced, computer-dependent society like that of the late 20th Century United States is not confined to its national security apparatuses.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Protecting against the 'millenium bug'

Rather than disappearing, computer-based versions of Anasazi society sometimes go on.

ECONOMIST: Social science

Dean Kamen, an entrepreneur from New Hampshire who invented the first insulin pump, caused a media sensation in 2002 by predicting that the Segway would have an impact on society similar to that of the personal computer.

FORBES: Segway Goes Legit

"Bennett's play feels less like a class comedy than an old man's rage against the sterility of today's cautious, over-organised society, where all boxes must be computer-ticked, and all human spirit and oddity processed away, " said Ismene Brown in her review for The Arts Desk.

BBC: Entertainment & Arts

Professor Charles Hoare, Fellow of the Royal Society, has been awarded a knighthood for services to education and computer science, while Professor Martin Harris, CBE, Vice-chancellor of Manchester University, has received a knighthood for his services to higher education.

BBC: Head wins honour for saving school

As a society, Africa is learning what it means to spend money on content delivered via a mobile device and computer screens, especially content that is designed for the continent.

CNN: Africa hungry for homegrown online content