from the we'll-settle-for-nanocomputers dept.
brian writes "Nice article in New Scientist that serves to establish both a physical upper limit to computing and a timeline. Kinda 'de rigueur' for Foresight but I find this kind of article useful for explaining singularity-like concepts to people. I.e. getting people to realize that one day (rsn) a 1 Ghz Pentium will seem as useless as my old 1 Mhz Apple ][+ seems today:
So here is where Moore's law must end, with a billion-degree laptop or an exploding submicroscopic black hole. "The truth is we have no notion of how to attain these ultimate limits," admits Lloyd. But don't despair–put your faith in human ingenuity. If the rate of progress doesn't slow, we'll reach these ultimate physical limits in just two hundred years' time.
Originally from Slashdot; see ensuing discussion if you like."
