norfzorf wrote:
] I'm not sure if you've heard of adiabatic computing, but
] here's a wired.com link about it which might affect moore's
] law: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,61118,00.html

Very cool technology... (No pun intended. :)

The recent slashdot discussion on this annoyed me. The assumption that this particular scientific vein will be mined for improving power forever is the misconception. Intel has warned and warned about this for years. The date hasn't moved. Moore's law will end. This doesn't mean that computers are going to stop getting faster, but that the rate at which they will get faster will decrease. The engine of Moore's law has had far reaching impacts on the rate of economic growth in the past 20 years. If we wish to sustain such growth we must find a new engine in time. Otherwise the speed of computers is not the only thing thats going to stagnate.

As need is the mother of invention, one can predict with reasonable safety that nothing will be done until the situation is dire. There may be an economic recession around the time that Moore's law stops. If you are ready you can manage your investments appropriately. Conversely, one can expect short "y2k" like bursts in computer/telecom spending around the time that the IPv4 space runs out, and the time when UNIX clocks stop working. All of this is less then 30 years out.

] Hugo De Garis also predicts computers will become "trillions
] of trillions" of times more powerful than the human brain
] using molecular electronics, a subfield of nanotechnology.
] Actually, I think he mentioned using quantum mechanics to do
] this or something, but I can't make heads or tails of quantum
] mechanics.

Its nonlinear. Its not a standard computing architecture. It solves NP in P. Trouble is its extremely unstable. Like a truck driving 50 miles away will destroy it unstable. Whether that is a solvable problem is unknown.

Cool thing is that we are starting so see quantum crypto systems on the market. They really aren't all that interesting from a security standpoint, but improving the technology will eventually allow information to be transmitted across unlimited distances instantly. (Yes, I mean faster then the speed of light.) There are practical limits to the bandwidth of such systems, but there could be some interesting applications. (However, the first applications that come to mind are military... Cache enough tied photons in a remote UAV to allow the final seconds of targeting and weapon firing to be controlled in realtime for increased accuracy.)

RE: Intel scientists find wall for Moore's Law | CNET News.com