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Photonics is the New King

By Henri - Posted on 10 February 2009

Or How Computing Continues to Careen up the Exponential Curve

Switching, that is the key to every breakthrough technology ever invented. Railroads depend on it to get their freight to the right location. Cars depend on it to run every subsystem under their hood. Delivery systems running to your home; gas, electric, water and phone all depend on switching to function.

At the core of every computer is the invention of the transistor, the first solid state electronic switching device. That came about back when I was in high school.

Now Hewlett Packard, a company that became a giant based on its embrace of electronic switching is proposing that we crown a new king. Light makes components, well, lighter I guess is a good word. The new light switching devices are already developed to the point that they can replace some existing systems based on electron switching. This will mean a substantial increase in speed and a decrease in size.

Switching to light from electrons will eventually lead to a decline in cost for computing power that will carry us through the next decade. We will continue to expand worldwide computing capacity at our current pace of increased value for decreased cost. This means more machines will get smarter until a toaster eventually exceeds the capacity of the human brain for calculation. Of course what we will do with a toaster smarter than the average citizen when toasters demand the right to run for office and vote is still to be determined.

For more info about Phototonics here is a great presentation by HP

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