In the second half of the 20th century, computers went from chunky business calculators to a part of nearly every corner of human life. Along the way, we started using the terms and concepts that describe how these machines work. Just the other day I realized that even though say “URL” about once a day in my work life, I didn’t know what the acronym stood for.
People like to pretend that the world used to be simpler—it wasn’t. Things were just complicated in a different way. But it is true that we’re all walking around discussing and relying on fantastically complex systems that most of us can’t even begin to understand. Tech companies sometimes use that to their advantage, hiding shady practices behind a wall of technical jargon. One way to push back on that is to learn just a little bit about these acronyms we throw around all the time without even knowing what they mean. Shall we?
