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Our computers have taken us to a dead end. We can't make them faster than they are. It may be time to go back to the drawing board and challenge the notion of what a computer should be like. What about computers made of light, fluid, or living beings? Believe it or not, people are actually trying all of those ideas - and more. Let's make a sightseeing tour through the most unexpected and crazy approaches to computing.
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In the presentation titled "Unconventional Computing" by Paolo "Nusco" Perrotta at the Ancient City Ruby 2016 event, the speaker explores the stagnation in traditional computing advancements and suggests various unconventional approaches to overcome these limitations. Key points include: - **Stagnation of Performance:** Compares the past rapid growth in computing speed to the current stagnation, referencing Moore's Law and Black's Law, as well as the physical limitations met by shrinking transistors. - **Need for Alternative Computing Methods:** The speaker emphasizes the necessity for new computing paradigms, highlighting that simply adding more CPUs may not be sufficient for complex problems. - **Diverse Computation Ideas:** - **Biological Computing:** Examples include using living organisms like crabs and slime molds for computation, showcasing their unique abilities to solve problems. - **Photonic Computing:** Discusses the potential of computers utilizing light, mentioning IBM's development of a fully photonic chip. - **Chemical Computation:** Explores chemical reactions, such as the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction, for building logic gates. - **Quantum Computing:** Highlights the allure and challenges of quantum technology and its potential to operate faster than classical computers through innovative algorithms. - **Emerging Trends in Programming:** The speaker foresees a rise in functional programming and a return to mainframes as a response to the need for centralized, powerful computing resources in the medium term. - **Future Speculations:** Envisions a diversifying landscape in computing technologies, leading to specialized coding frameworks that cater to unconventional computational processes. In conclusion, Perrotta emphasizes the importance of exploring these varied computational methods to innovate beyond current limitations. He encourages an appreciation for the evolution of computing, connecting the discussion back to foundational figures like Charles Babbage.
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