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Computers Will Be Built By Living Cells

Posted by timothy on from the creative-computing dept.

axxackall contributes a link to Richard Black's report on BBC suggesting that "Computers of the future will be built not by factory machines, but by living cells such as bacteria. Scientists 'have described how wires can now be made by yeast organisms, and how solar panels could be built using substances produced by sea sponges. Researchers believe these kind of technologies will be essential if we are to continue to shrink the size of electronic devices.' But 'Computers made with these natural processes are not just around the corner -- it will be many years before the technologies can be developed that far.' While scientists think about small sizes and environmental benefits, I also think if it would be possible to implant such bacteria for additional computational power in human brains -- just in case we have to upgrade them." Update: 02/17 20:23 GMT by T : I chopped out that link accidentally, sorry.

7 of 253 comments (clear)

  1. Yeah. Right. by superdan2k · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "I also think if it would be possible to implant such bacteria for additional computational power in human brains -- just in case we have to upgrade them."

    And just what exactly are these bacteria going to eat while they're inside your skull to build all these little computer parts? Brain tissue? Meninges? Cerebrospinal fluid? Do tell.

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    blog |
  2. Re:Yeah. Right. by Planesdragon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And just what exactly are these bacteria going to eat while they're inside your skull to build all these little computer parts? Brain tissue? Meninges? Cerebrospinal fluid? Do tell.

    I'd wager that they'd subside on the same nutrients from the bloodstream that everyone else does.

  3. Nanotech without building it from scratch by Badgerman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This article brings up the quest for nanontech- we've got plenty of functional "nanotechnology" right now in the form of living cells. Maybe its a good idea to see what they can do before reinventing the wheel.

    I recall using antibody-based dyes when I was a grad student in Neuroanatomy a decade ago. One basically used cultured antibodies to attach to certain substances in tissue being examined, carrying dyes with them. Primitive compared to this, but it did use pre-existing "biotechnology"

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    "The Sage treasures Unity and measures all things by it" - Lao Tzu
    1. Re:Nanotech without building it from scratch by Ann+Coulter · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The problem with using preexisting nanotechnology is that we had absolutely no say in its function and design. It is a bit of a mess just figuring out what enzymes do; much less running experiments on their structures, mechanisms, and (gulp) their original design process. It would be nice to be able to peice together catalytic pathways on a whim but we have very limited experience doing that. Perhaps when we have quantum computers and rapid nucleotide assemblers we can perform evolution in a test tube to design our own proteinaeous nanomachines. So far, we have to take (very small) bits and pieces from nature and use them as best we can.

  4. I guess they know what they're doing... by glMatrixMode · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ... but a bio computer is going to be very slow at computations. This is because chemical phenomena are intrisically slow. So they might be better at AI or Shape Recognition, but they won't replace usual computers for any computing task.

    It's more probable that these computers will have additionnal traditionnal circuits in them to allow for fast computations.

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    War doesn't prove who's right, just who's left.
  5. Re:okay.. not really relevant by zCyl · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Personally, I think as soon as we're technologically able, we should move away from the whole biology thing. Being in a meat body sucks sledgehammers thru a garden hose.

    Okay, build yourself your stainless steel body, go out into the wilderness, and fry a transistor, sizzle a magnet, or snap a connector. Then limp around for a few hours, days, or years waiting hopelessly for it to heal.

    Organic bodies may have their hangups, but you're far more likely to survive on your own as an organic body than as any machine made by man.

    Eventually, with extraordinary leaps in nanotechnology we might be able to make sufficiently self-repairing and resilient artificial machines, but by that point, we'd be getting pretty close to a biological system.

  6. How about this... by hackwrench · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Planetary network: Network that covers the entire planet.
    Gaia:Any of a number of theories that deal with the planet as a system.