Tuesday, September 23, 2008

BLOG ASSIGNMENT 2 - MOORE'S LAW

Moore's law, published in 1965 by Gordon Moore, states that the number of transistors that can be fit onto a circuit will increases exponentially every two years, this has been a driving force of many technological advances.(source) this means basically that computer capabilities increase at a very rapid pace.(source) . even without doing serious research anyone can see this trend in effect. by comparing cell phones, lap top computers, digital cameras, and PDA's today with similar products from 5 or 10 years ago even a casual user of these devices would notice the increased  capabilities and power of these devices.
some believe there are limits to this law however: "In terms of size [of transistor] you can see that we're approaching the size of atoms which is a fundamental barrier, but it'll be two or three generations before we get that far - but that's as far out as we've ever been able to see. We have another 10 to 20 years before we reach a fundamental limit" -Gordon Moore(source). others believe that rapid increase in technological capabilities will lead to a singularity. in this scenario it is suggested that "if machines could even slightly surpass human intellect, they could improve their own designs in ways unforeseen by their designers, and thus recursively augment themselves into far greater intelligences"(source). if technology keeps advancing exponentially and artificial intelligence improves then a technological singularity would be feasible.
in conclusion, Moore's Law states that about every two years the number of transistors that can fit onto a circuit doubles. this seems to mean that technology advances and will advance at an exponential rate. some feel that this type of technological progress is not infinitely sustainable, others feel that progress will continue until artificial intelligence is smarter than human intelligence and a kind of "technological explosion" will occur.(source)

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