The computer, the Internet and the laser were recent technological developments that came out of nowhere and were not understood when they appeared.

The claim is that the computer, the Internet and the laser came out of nowhere, i.e. they were unforeseen and their uses were not understood when they appeared. Judge this against the historical record of how each technology was developed and received. True: the history of all three shows they were unplanned or unforeseen in their eventual impact, and their applications were largely not anticipated at the outset. Mostly true: this holds broadly, but one technology had foreseen precursors or goals while its main uses were still unforeseen. Mixed: the uses were unforeseen for some of the three, but others were deliberately developed toward foreseen goals (for example the computer for calculation, ARPANET for networking). Mostly false: the technologies were the result of deliberate research programmes with expected uses, and only their scale of impact was unforeseen, so 'came out of nowhere' overstates it. False: the history shows all three were planned and anticipated developments.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Lasers: The Power of Light National Science Foundation (NSF) · 9 June 2026

   “When Theodore Maiman first demonstrated the laser in 1960, its practical uses and commercial value were far from clear.”

2. E2 Inventing the Computer IEEE Global History Network (ETHW), IEEE STARS article · 17 January 2018

   “The ENIAC was conceived, built, and used for scientific and military applications.”

3. E3 A short history of the internet | National Science and Media Museum National Science and Media Museum (UK) · 3 December 2020

   “Among ARPA’s projects was a remit to test the feasibility of a large-scale computer network.”

4. E4 A short history of the internet | National Science and Media Museum National Science and Media Museum (UK) · 3 December 2020

   “Email was a rapid—but unintended—consequence of the growth of ARPANET.”

The evidence partly supports the claim and partly cuts against it. On the laser it supports the claim: NSF says that when the laser was first demonstrated in 1960, its practical uses and commercial value were far from clear (E1). Against it, the IEEE history says ENIAC was conceived, built and used for scientific and military applications (E2), and the museum history says ARPA had a remit to test the feasibility of a large-scale computer network (E3), which points to deliberate development toward stated goals in these two cases. Email emerging as an unintended result of ARPANET (E4) shows some uses were unforeseen, which fits the criteria's 'mixed' case rather than 'came out of nowhere' for all three.