In this posting, I will cover some examples of why I am predicting such a shrinking of computers. For the purpose of this entry, only personal computers will be used, because their size is considerably smaller than previous mainframe entries.
Beginning with the Altair computer in 1988, the size of computers has followed a clearly shrinking trend. The Altair, introduced in 1975, consumed about 2.3 sq. ft. of space. Incidentally, Bill Gates and Paul wrote the Altair version of the Basic programming language, several years before founding Microsoft.
Beginning with the Altair computer in 1988, the size of computers has followed a clearly shrinking trend. The Altair, introduced in 1975, consumed about 2.3 sq. ft. of space. Incidentally, Bill Gates and Paul wrote the Altair version of the Basic programming language, several years before founding Microsoft.
Altair Computer (http://library.thinkquest.org/C0115420/Cyber-club%20800x600/History/4th%20Generation%20Computers%20(1971-present).htm)The next computer in the comparison is the original IBM PC, the model 5150. The PC consumed about 2.2 sq. ft. and was introduced in 1981.
IBM 5150 Personal Computer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PC)The next computer, the Space Cube, is a 300MHz PC, taking up roughly 0.02 sq. ft. and using about 5 watts of power.
Space Cube Computer (http://www.physorg.com/news139154133.html)Finally, the smallest computer today, the picotux. Picotux is a computer using a miserly .0007 sq. ft. and touting a 55MHz processor, running the Linux O/S.
picotux Computer (http://www.picotux.com/)
The trend line displays the shrinking in a more comprehendible manner.
As can clearly be ascertained, the size is already near zero in square footage required. To continue shrinking this to the size of a mole would require taking today’s .007 sq. ft. computer, down to a size of about 5mm X 5mm, or .00027 sq. ft.
A computer of this size would have a power consumption measured in microwatts, and the human body is capable of producing about 50 watts/hour (http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/748/), so capturing a small portion of human energy would allow the computer to be powered from human energy, though this is a cybernetic challenge not yet available.
Enough for this phase, tomorrow we'll look into the final paper, with a short discussion on the risks and issues remaining.
-steve
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