Computer Technology

[EroticySteve]

Does anyone else think that technology is at a standstill? Has innovation and invention died? Are the current computers we have everything, anyone could have ever imagined?

It seems that growing up Technology changed so fast that it was stupid to buy a computer when 12 months later your technology would be obsolete?

To me it seems as though there is little merit to innovation or discovery. Artificial intelligience offers some promise, perhaps a computer or enough computers could be used to solve and cure disease? Fix global warming. Create world peace? Normalize freak weather patterns. Communicate with beings on other planets? Figure out just how large the universe is. Does the Universe go on forever. Is it infinite?

One of those days I suppose.

[Trev]

Does anyone else think that technology is at a standstill? Has innovation and invention died? Are the current computers we have everything, anyone could have ever imagined?

It seems that growing up Technology changed so fast that it was stupid to buy a computer when 12 months later your technology would be obsolete?

To me it seems as though there is little merit to innovation or discovery. Artificial intelligience offers some promise, perhaps a computer or enough computers could be used to solve and cure disease? Fix global warming. Create world peace? Normalize freak weather patterns. Communicate with beings on other planets? Figure out just how large the universe is. Does the Universe go on forever. Is it infinite?

One of those days I suppose.
Speed is getting better day by day, new chips in development will soon have every home pc something that NASA would envy. :)

[EroticySteve]

But it seems like there isn't a need for faster machines without invention and creativity. Much of why machines are as fast as they are now is that people endlessly looked for new ways to use the technology and as applications became more advanced to where they are to today technology followed slowly behind.

It just seems there is a general lack of creativity. Universities and companies look complacent with the technologies at hand. As an outsider this is how it looks to be.

[Dravyk]

The problem is the silicon pathways on the circuitboards can't currently go any smaller. Right now they are (I'm doing this from memory, so it's not exact) something like only a few microns above the atomic level. To go smaller, electrons would literally escape from the circuit tunnels, the spaces between atoms. (Again if the exact wording is wrong here, the context is correct.)

The next step we're getting closer to, but haven't achieved yet, where actual carbon atoms would need to be used that would take a charge and pass it down the line. The amazing thing is this would be similiar to how synapes and axioms in our nerves send signals to and from our organic brains.

So when we get down to that level, we're really going to be creating a true artificial structure that mimics nerve activity. What is also interesting (again, excuse me if I get the particulars a bit messed up) it was said years ago that the human brain can do 100 teraflops or roughly 100 trillion calculations per second. And we're on the threshold of computers doing that as well.

Interesting covergence there. Seems like androids will be just around the corner.

[Rolo]

My favorite new toys this year...

Handheld GPS system with audio directions (have not been lost by foot in the last 6 months - nothing like having "the voice" telling you where to go, when you are drunk and need to meet your mates at some strange bar, pub, cafe, disco etc. ;-))

PSP for movies when I´m traveling (can´t wait to use the internet browser more)

Google Earth (checking out in details where you are traveling or want to travel)

Last year it was my 3G phone - really liked the video cam feature - unfortunately the females I called didn´t ;-)))

[EroticySteve]

Dravyk, I think you got at what I'm getting at. We're still futzing with old techology. Invention has stopped. Based on current technology and knowledge we're limited, could there be such a thing as an organic computer?

Before silicon chips and processors we had vacuum tubes. People exploited that technology until it could go no further. Then we had transistors and solid state. Then printed circuit boards and chips and processors. I think that the point is that we've reached the limitations of current technology. Are the great minds of the world just sitting back and saying "I give up?"

Sci Fi is even boring. It seems that the last interesting Sci Fi frontier was Quantum Physics and time travel.

It even seems like we're at a stalemate when it comes to growth and innovation as well as invention.

[Dravyk]

I don't think we're stymied, Steve, nor has innovation stopped. I think going from the current circuits to the atomic level I mentioned is quite a jump, a brand new technology. I know it's being worked on, just to make that jump is (literally in this case) a quantum leap. It's not just the old two-year cycle of getting smaller and smaller; it will be a brand new technology. So I think you're just seeing the natural speed bump in the process.

[Rolo]

It even seems like we're at a stalemate when it comes to growth and innovation as well as invention.

Are we living in parallel worlds? :blink: Have you ever seen new a technology come out of the blue?

All technologies/theories builds on the backs of other technologies/theories. Even Einstein was limited/halted by the knowledge of his time...

[Rolo]

nanotechnology, quantum computing, spontaneous order theories etc. how can they be boring, when we are not even at the entrance of the rabbit hole?

[sarettah]

But it seems like there isn't a need for faster machines without invention and creativity. Much of why machines are as fast as they are now is that people endlessly looked for new ways to use the technology and as applications became more advanced to where they are to today technology followed slowly behind.

Un uh............ Our software technology is so far behind our hardware technology that it isn't funny. Yes, we have more memory to work with, fast processors, etc. But the underlying structures for how we store the data ahve not changed in a fucking long ass time. The basics of software technology haven't changed since the days of Hollerith. The platforms might have changed, electronics made them faster but the basic concept of zeros and ones is the same as the abicus.

Upcoming technology to watch.... This will revolutionize the computer industry as well as many other industries, but if our software technologies do not catch up, it will be for naught. (just imho of course)



http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=11353

"We've discovered a method for generating a diverse library of functionalized gold particles quickly and easily," said Hutchison, who directs the university's Materials Science Institute. "Basic research of this type is the key to finding out what kinds of new electronic, optical and pharmaceutical products actually will come to market."

The article describes how to synthesize the versatile particles, built with cores of 11 gold atoms, and discloses their properties. Nanomaterials and technologies are projected to become a trillion dollar industry by 2010 and affect every industrial and consumer product sector, Hutchison said.


http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=11324

Twisted nanostructures are an important biological motif - just think of the DNA double helix or proteins with helical sections important to their function. Researchers are anxious to produce artificial helices, which could be useful in nanotechnological applications. Korean researchers have now successfully created a molecular system that can even form helices “on demand,” turning the initially liquid solution into a gel.


http://www.computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/hardware/story/0,10801,104335,00.html

Molecular Self-Assembly
Nanoscale circuits build themselves, breathing new life into Moore's Law.

SEPTEMBER 05, 2005 (COMPUTERWORLD) - Someday, computer chips will be grown, not made.
The concept of nanotechnology—that is, the manufacture of preposterously small objects—is at least familiar to most, although the scales involved continue to boggle the mind (a pinhead is about 1 million nanometers wide). It's easy to see why such extreme miniaturization interests semiconductor makers: Feeding the beast called Moore's Law grows more difficult with every generation of chips.

A number of companies are betting that the best way to operate in this nanoscale world is via "molecular self-assembly," in which circuits literally grow themselves. IBM, Texas Instruments Inc., Fujitsu Ltd. and Hewlett-Packard Co. are focusing on incrementally self-assembled components that can be integrated with conventional silicon-based chips. Meanwhile, start-ups such as ZettaCore Inc. and Cambrios Technologies Corp. aim to eliminate silicon completely by building entire semiconductors from molecules.

But, experts caution, the race is not a sprint but a marathon whose finish line is 20 years off at least.

Researchers have already shown that it's possible to integrate self-assembly with conventional semiconductor-manufacturing techniques—meaning chips that are at least partially self-assembled may be found in commercially available computers in five to seven years, says Jack Uldrich, president of The NanoVeritas Group in St. Paul, Minn., and co-author of The Next Big Thing Is Really Small (Crown Business, 2003).

[EroticySteve]

I think both Rolo and Dravyk have missed my point.

If you'd have asked an expert on Vacuum tube technology to innovate from that point I bet he'd have told you that you're looking at the best that technology has to offer. To further my point we're got plenty of geniuses and experts working in fields that they are experts in. Many of these people in my opinion have tunnel vision and their education and culture SEEMS To be one of maintaining and perhaps improving current technology rather than branching out to answer the questions that no one is yet asking.

Rolo, we're not living in parallel worlds. Of course I know that knowledge builds upon knowledge.

Einstein however, is a perfect example that proves my point. He wasn't limited by knowledge and technology, he was the one that questioned it all and sought answers for questions that no one was asking.

Businesswise it's not always the most profitable thing to answer questions before they are asked. The Internet on the whole has been the perfect example of that. We've seen websites and ideas come and go because the services, technology or ideas were ahead of their time and ahead of people's lack of willingness to learn, change, or adapt. The Internet Virtual Shopping Mall is a great example of a horrible idea for it's time. Novel in it's concept of mimicking a real life shopping mall but horrible in it's execution and delivery.

Referring again to technology, Dravyk has a point. To continue with our current concept of what a computer is or should be we're limited physically.

What I'm asking is where are the ideas to adopt or develop new technologies that may completely circumvent this issue?

[Dravyk]

Exciting.

As long as it doesn't turn on us.

http://www.spitter.com/images/t1000.jpg

[EroticySteve]

Thanks. :)
Un uh............ Our software technology is so far behind our hardware technology that it isn't funny. Yes, we have more memory to work with, fast processors, etc. But the underlying structures for how we store the data ahve not changed in a fucking long ass time. The basics of software technology haven't changed since the days of Hollerith. The platforms might have changed, electronics made them faster but the basic concept of zeros and ones is the same as the abicus.

Upcoming technology to watch.... This will revolutionize the computer industry as well as many other industries, but if our software technologies do not catch up, it will be for naught. (just imho of course)



http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=11353

"We've discovered a method for generating a diverse library of functionalized gold particles quickly and easily," said Hutchison, who directs the university's Materials Science Institute. "Basic research of this type is the key to finding out what kinds of new electronic, optical and pharmaceutical products actually will come to market."

The article describes how to synthesize the versatile particles, built with cores of 11 gold atoms, and discloses their properties. Nanomaterials and technologies are projected to become a trillion dollar industry by 2010 and affect every industrial and consumer product sector, Hutchison said.


http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=11324

Twisted nanostructures are an important biological motif - just think of the DNA double helix or proteins with helical sections important to their function. Researchers are anxious to produce artificial helices, which could be useful in nanotechnological applications. Korean researchers have now successfully created a molecular system that can even form helices “on demand,” turning the initially liquid solution into a gel.


http://www.computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/hardware/story/0,10801,104335,00.html

Molecular Self-Assembly
Nanoscale circuits build themselves, breathing new life into Moore's Law.

SEPTEMBER 05, 2005 (COMPUTERWORLD) - Someday, computer chips will be grown, not made.
The concept of nanotechnology—that is, the manufacture of preposterously small objects—is at least familiar to most, although the scales involved continue to boggle the mind (a pinhead is about 1 million nanometers wide). It's easy to see why such extreme miniaturization interests semiconductor makers: Feeding the beast called Moore's Law grows more difficult with every generation of chips.

A number of companies are betting that the best way to operate in this nanoscale world is via "molecular self-assembly," in which circuits literally grow themselves. IBM, Texas Instruments Inc., Fujitsu Ltd. and Hewlett-Packard Co. are focusing on incrementally self-assembled components that can be integrated with conventional silicon-based chips. Meanwhile, start-ups such as ZettaCore Inc. and Cambrios Technologies Corp. aim to eliminate silicon completely by building entire semiconductors from molecules.

But, experts caution, the race is not a sprint but a marathon whose finish line is 20 years off at least.

Researchers have already shown that it's possible to integrate self-assembly with conventional semiconductor-manufacturing techniques—meaning chips that are at least partially self-assembled may be found in commercially available computers in five to seven years, says Jack Uldrich, president of The NanoVeritas Group in St. Paul, Minn., and co-author of The Next Big Thing Is Really Small (Crown Business, 2003).

[Rolo]

Einstein however, is a perfect example that proves my point. He wasn't limited by knowledge and technology, he was the one that questioned it all and sought answers for questions that no one was asking.

Yet, he dismissed Niels Bohr´s theories about quantum mechanics... This is a famous dialog between the two genius:

Einstein: "God does not play dice."
Einstein: "God is not malicious."
Bohr: "Einstein, stop telling God what to do."

And until this day Niels Bohr´s quantum theories stands...

[Dravyk]

Yet, he dismissed Niels Bohr´s theories about quantum mechanics... This is a famous dialog between the two genius:

Einstein: "God does not play dice."
Einstein: "God is not malicious."
Bohr: "Einstein, stop telling God what to do."

And until this day Niels Bohr´s quantum theories stands...Reminds me of another:

"Can God do anything?"
"Of course."
"Can he make something so heavy he can't lift?"
http://oprano.com/msgboard/images/smilies/smile.gif

Deux ex machina.

[Nickatilynx]

We need smaller batteries that hold a charge longer...

[sarettah]

We need smaller batteries that hold a charge longer...


Either that or you need to get a different vibrator that holds more batteries :yowsa:












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[Inabon]

one of the biggest limitation is harddrive speed. a spinning hd has its limits however here is the future

http://atomchip.com/_wsn/page4.html

solid state harddrive

1 terabyte of ram

and 2 terybytes of space (harrddrive)

all running at motherboard and proc speeds.

:) i have to get me one of those and a desktop like that.

imagine what it could do as a server. no harddrive getting busy because of hits

it can probably do like 97870870 gigs LOL