For the last few decades, we’ve been enjoying faster and faster computer speeds, but we’ve now squeezed as much as we can from silicon chips. We take a look at the tech that could take their place
Compared to those of 50 years ago, the computer processors of today are fast. Crazily fast. Their speed has been doubling approximately every two years. This doubling effect is known as Moore’s Law, after Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel, who predicted this rate of progress back in 1965. If the top speed of cars had followed the same trend since 1965, we would be watching Lewis Hamilton fly around Silverstone at more than 17,600,000,000km/h. For the computer industry, his prediction became a golden rule, perhaps even a self-fulfilling prophecy. The chip manufacturers were inspired to attain the performance
Moore’s Law forecast. And so they did, inventing ever more impressive ways to shrink the necessary components to fit into smaller and smaller areas of silicon, and speed up the rate at which those components interacted in the process. Today, thanks to the largescale integrated circuits used to make the increasingly powerful microprocessors, the computer industry has transformed the world. We have digitised almost every aspect of our lives, from food distribution to transport, and created new technologies that would never have been possible with older processors, such as social media, online gaming, robotics, augmented reality and machine learning.
The continuing advances predicted by Moore’s Law have made these transformations possible. But we’ve become blasé about the extraordinary progress, to the point where many software companies simply assume that it will continue. But as we create more data every day, we also create the need for vast warehouses of computers, known as the cloud, to store and process that data. And the more data we produce, the more computing power we need to analyse it.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der November 2018-Ausgabe von Very Interesting.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der November 2018-Ausgabe von Very Interesting.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
HOW TO MASTER YOUR METABOLISM
Ready to welcome a leaner, healthier you? It's time for a metabolic makeover. With a few simple, research-backed changes, you can supercharge your body's calorie-burning
A BLUEPRINT FOR ANTI AGEING
Science says it's time to rethink - and take control - of our body's age. Here's how to slow, halt and potentially turn back your biological clock
THE BROKEN MIRROR
Body dysmorphia - the all-consuming obsession with perceived flaws in our looks - is sweeping the globe. One in five young people is thought to be affected. What can be done and how is tech changing the way we see ourselves?
SCROLL REVERSAL
Losing days by endlessly scrolling on your smartphone? You're not alone. Perhaps neuroscience can help us beat the urge
Going back to the moon
ARTEMIS AND A NEW DAWN OF LUNAR EXPLORATION
SAD CLOWN PARADOX: WHY TEARS OFTEN LIE BEHIND THE LAUGHS
Mental health issues are common among comedians and performing is just one way they can self-medicate
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION: HOW COOKING CAN DAMAGE YOUR DNA
From roast dinners to scented candles, there are potentially harmful pollutants lurking in every home
FARM OF THE FUTURE
Join the BBC's Planet Earth III film crew and go behind the scenes in the city farm that's transforming fields into towers and running almost everything with robots
COULD ONE BOMB DESTROY THE WORLD?
How big a bang are arms manufacturers capable of creating?
THE THREAT OF DAY ZERO
Queues at public water taps could become normal. What can we do to avoid them?