From Tabulators to Early Computers in the U.S. Life Insurance Industry: Co-evolution and Continuities

This paper takes an initial look at early interactions between insurance as a user industry and vendors of computing equipment during the period from the end of the war into the mid-1950s, when first generation computers were adopted by many insurance firms. The transition of life insurance from tabulating to computing technology illustrates two forces evident at many points of technological change: co-evolution and continuity. The technology and its use in life insurance co-evolved, shaping each other in their interactions over the decade; at the same time, this major user industry and the nascent vendor industry similarly exerted influence on each other. In addition, relationships established and choices made during the tabulator era affected events and choices in the early computer era. In its core technology, the computer may have marked a point of discontinuity with what came before, but it clearly demonstrated continuities in many other areas, including market relations, the punched card as storage and input-output medium, and application areas in insurance.