PositiveMode

The Future of Computing

I read today about a fascinating developing realm of computing technology - quantum computers. Essentially, using quantum theory to manipulate qubits (the quantum version of a bit) allows for computers that are fantastically more powerful and faster than today's computers, and theoretically much smaller (although interestingly, right now it seems the apparatuses required to house atom-sized qubits can take up a space the size of a bedroom).

Some scientists believe that quantum computing is the only for us to continue keeping up with Moore's Law, which states that computer chips double in capacity approximately every 18 months. Gordon Moore himself, however, disagrees, holding that the physics involved in quantum computing are just too difficult.

Hat-tip to today's The Wall Street Journal, Marketplace Section (I don't provide a link to today's article that called this issue to my attention because it requires a subscription to the Journal, which undoubtedly many of you have, but with no greater doubt I assume that more of you don't. Instead, the link I provided for more information on quantum computing is to About.com, which I find myself Google-linked to quite frequently on matters of scientific and historical fact, and while it seems like a very comprehensively informative site, I am not well-versed enough in About.com's origins or purpose to comment intelligently on those topics here).

posted by PositiveMode @ 1:54 PM