Vanishing point: the rise of the invisible computer

The Grauniad ^ | 26 Jan 2017 | Tim Cross

[oblomov]

Sure, nature has limits, but human ingenuity is limitless, because we are made in the image of God.

[Ray76]

Brought to you by the greedy free market.

[DoughtyOne]

Brought to you by the greedy free market.

Leftists everywhere mourn...

[roadcat]

A transistor is an electronic switch that, by flipping between “on” and “off”, provides a physical representation of the 1s and 0s that are the fundamental particles of information.

A transistor is much more than that, this is a very simplistic explanation. Nothing here about gating power when it is switched.

[Paladin2]

Chemical Batteries lag SO far behind.

ABC (always be charging) these days for my stuff.

[moovova]

Oh...thought you meant the movie...

Seriously though... I just finished watching the first season of Humans...the program about robots built in a perfect human form. A few were even developed with a "conscious". The program left me feeling uneasy.

[Ciexyz]

Using computers is logical. Using computers for Facebook is illogical. Facebook is getting very weird with the Democrats posting their drivel against Trump.

[Robert DeLong]

Just to put it into perspective, PC’s have had for quite some time now, more memory than IBM mainframe models 360 & 370 combined, and each required a big air cooled, dust controlled, room to operate in. But these new chips also improved the mainframes. So while a PC is powerful a mainframe has also gotten much more powerful.

[Maceman]

[Fiddlstix]

Excellent point!

[Hot Tabasco]

I just finished watching the first season of Humans

Isn't that a brand new series debuting on AMC on Feb. 13?

[mythenjoseph]

My 1971 truck has outlasted 75% of the computers ever made..(1971 is the starting year of Intel) there is something to be said of keep it simple stupid...the only thing I have altered on my 71’ International is changing out the points to an electronic ignition gizmo for about a 100 bucks...come to think of it thats the same money I paid for this whole compter set-up i use....newer is not always better....and you will never see a machine doing re-roofs/plumbing installs...siding/changing over electrical panels....if all you can do is push paper then you should worry...me not so much...I have never seen a machine twisting wrenches for car repair?...The machine Davinci they use for operations is hacking people up and is drowning in law suiots for slicing intestines and people bleeding out ...(doctors remotely operate with this thing)

[dhs12345]

And the military.

[SandRat]

Now when are you going to produce one even smaller, so small that it can be used in medicine to be surgically injected in the brain area to help MD's, heal/cure folks that have tbi and very SERIOUS BRAIN/COMA Recovery issues? MDs have only been playing, pretending, that they are treating tbi or bran injury people in the US since 1841.

[Ray76]

Intel was not founded by the military. Zilog was not founded by the military. TI was not founded by the military. AMD was not founded by the military. Microsoft was not founded by the military. Apple was not founded by the military.

[JustaTech]

“....and you will never see a machine doing re-roofs/plumbing installs...siding/changing over electrical panels...”

---

Disagree. It will happen within a decade or two at the most. Structures will be built more quickly with a work force that stays on the job 24/7 and isn’t constrained by OSHA rules.

But before that you will see expendable robots take over the really dangerous stuff like underground mining and firefighting rescue.

[Vendome]

I want Moore....

[dhs12345]

I was referring VLSI and LSI. both developments were born out of the space race and military. Ditto for the internet.

[I want the USA back]

Wait a minute! 4/3 the speed of light is impossible.

[Ray76]

TI invented the IC.