Posted by Chuck Bratton.Moore’s Law = Thinking MachinesThe famous Yankees’ manager Yogi Berra once quipped, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” Yet here we are, exactly 50 years since Gordon Moore published his observation that silicon-based components (transistors, resistors, and diodes) in a dense, integrated circuit would double approximately every year for 10 years. He later revised the forecast to double every two years. Carver Mead, Moore’s friend and coworker, then coined the household term for the prediction, “Moore’s Law.” It was probably a foregone conclusion that Intel was poised to meet the manufacturing requirements to honor the law (since both men worked there), or maybe it was all a clever marketing strategy. Regardless, the law set in motion a logarithmic explosion in computing power that continues unabated to this day. With every major anniversary of Moore’s Law, the current Silicon Valley brain trust revises the feasibility of the law, either up or down, depending on the knowledge of the known universe and the availability of the awareness spectrum narcotic (“the Spice”). Surprisingly, the actual processing power of the current titanic Core i7 quad processor is near that of a mouse brain. Sadly, there is a theoretical limit to the silicon integrated circuit: 10 more years as predicted by Ray Kurzweil (the Dali Lama of technology prophecy).This… is… all… about… to… change…In the next few years, we will abandon silicon-processing circuitry like it was Blu-ray and dive pell-mell into the theoretical universes of optical, quantum, and DNA computing. A simple extrapolation of Moore’s Law suggests that processors with incredible power are within our reach. This is the dawn of the “Thinking Machine.” In a few short years, the very stuff between your ears that you use to order your morning latte will be outclassed by the device you use to calculate your daily steps and fitness metrics. It’s time for everyone to read Dune.