What Are Implications?
Unless an insatiable global market demand for bits and circuits becomes a
reality-certainly not the case today-the future is unclear. Even if this were to
happen, no one knows what billion-plus integrated circuits that perform an
operation every 200-trillionths of a second would be able to do. But it is
always enjoyable to speculate.
Intel has announced that it expects to squeeze a billion transistors onto its
microprocessors by the year 2011. The implications of such a feat are
staggering. Imagine someone developing an entry-level handheld PC that runs
at 1000 MHz, contains a minimum of 128 MB of RAM, a 20-GB solid-state
hard drive, and costs about $500. This kind of power could transform society
in ways that are hard to predict. Many staple predictions of what is to come
would become feasible: natural language processing, error-free speech and
handwriting recognition, awesome 3D graphics and multimedia, artificial
intelligence and knowledge-based systems, humanoid "agents" that fetch your
morning news, make the coffee, and cheerfully greet you when you wake up.
The speculation is endless. Suffice it to say that there will be thousands of
revolutionary applications as the incredible semiconductor technology
marches forward, propelled by the same quantum force that has inspired the
pioneers of the industry for 50 years.
One thing is certain: as we continue to push the limits, tomorrow's
nanotechnology will eclipse today's digital marvels, and our lives will be
irrevocably changed. This remarkable semicondutor industry of ours
continues to reverberate with the words of Robert H Dennard, "It is possible
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