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| HP - The Machine |
This is an article about power, in particular about the power of technology. A couple of weeks ago reports started popping up of a new computer technology being developed by Hewlett-Packard. The technology uses a new form of memory called the memristor. This technology will lead to an entirely new computer architecture and create a large step increase in computing power. Hp is calling it The Machine.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has been working with memeristor technology for several years in their artificial intelligence project called Systemsof Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE). The objective of this project is to recreate the function of a mammalian brain that will fit in roughly the same space. They have been working to simulate rat and cat brains but the ultimate goal is the human brain. To state it clearly, they seek to create an electronic device that will think like a human being and will also fit in roughly the same space as a human brain. This of course has huge implications for artificial intelligence, robotics and transhumanism.
This kind of computing power can also used in the conventional manner of crunching lots and lots of data. It is this use that the author of the attached article foresees. He foresees the dream of being able to react in real time to inputs on a global scale coming to fruition. The author sees this as a good thing because he foresees this power being used for positive purposes. But the world is filled with great evil and this technological power could also be used for evil on a global scale. The ability to use technology to place the entire human race under surveillance is a recipe for global oppression.
It's All Coming Together
Cloud computing, RFID, advances in
processing power, nanotechnology and other trends will soon coalesce
into a multifaceted platform that gives computers the ability to know
what in happening in the world—and to respond.
As we read daily newspapers, news
websites and alerts delivered to our phone, it often seems that news
happens randomly and events are unrelated. Then, once in a while, you
read something that makes you think that even random news events are
part of a larger trend. I had this experience the other day when Rich
Handley, RFID Journal's managing editor, sent me a news story titled
"New Type Of Computer Capable Of Calculating 640TBs Of Data In
One Billionth Of A Second, Could Revolutionize Computing."
The article is about The Machine, a new
high-powered computer core, developed by Hewlett-Packard, that
combines elements of a server, a workstation, a PC and a smartphone.
According to HP, it was designed to cope with the masses of data
produced from the Internet of Things. The article says The Machine—I
love the hubris of its name—is "six times more powerful than
existing servers that requires eighty times less energy. According to
HP, The Machine can manage 160 petabytes of data in a mere 250
nanoseconds. And, what's more, it isn't just for huge
supercomputers—it could be used in smaller devices such as
smartphones and laptops."
This might be a lot of hype, but what
struck me is the fact that companies are developing faster
microprocessors that consume less energy, while others are developing
cloud-computing capabilities that allow them to allocate tasks over
distributed machines, each of which could be way more powerful than
today's computers. Still other companies are developing low-cost
sensors that use nanotechnology to detect ammonia, nitrates and other
chemicals. And, of course, companies are developing better RFID
systems that will capture information about billions of things that
exist in the world—car parts, T-shirts, oil pipes and everything
else.
These disparate technologies will, no doubt, coalesce into a platform enabling computers to capture information about the real world in real time, and to then analyze it and react. RFID and wireless sensors will produce terabytes of RFID data each day. A decade ago, that would have overwhelmed IT systems. A decade from now, it will likely seem trivial.
These disparate technologies will, no doubt, coalesce into a platform enabling computers to capture information about the real world in real time, and to then analyze it and react. RFID and wireless sensors will produce terabytes of RFID data each day. A decade ago, that would have overwhelmed IT systems. A decade from now, it will likely seem trivial.
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