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Computers Will Be Built By Living Cells
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.
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."
Uhh, screw that... 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. Especially when you're considered lunch for pretty much everything on this earth that can move under it's own power, and several more that can't.
I mean, being a biological organism has hundreds of drawbacks, not the least of which is the extremely limited environment that such organisms must occupy if they want to keep working. Imagine a brain capable of working in temperatures ranging from sub-freezing to plus-boiling, rather than the what, twenty whole degrees we've got now? (ten if you're using Celsius). It frees up a great deal of flexibility for the design of new bodies, and the best part is, nothing naturally occuring on this earth would think we're tasty.
That said, and to get back on topic, I don't think we'll ever really see the day when bacteria are used to manufacture circuits. Trace sizes are already smaller than most living organisms, and they're difficult to work with at best. Plus, in the decade or so that they think it'll take to get this up and running, circuit requirements will be such that even engineered organisms are totally innapropriate for the task. In a few decades more, mass-produced nanoassembly should be the state of the art for this type of manufactured goods.
The most important factor that makes computers (machines) work is the randomlessness they have. It is even hard (or almost impossible) to build a really random number using a computer. On the other hand, living cells of any kind have much higher randomness, would they really be able to control how large this random factor is?
"What you 'seek' is what you get!"
Not read that one... but reminder me "Blood Music" of Greg Bear instead.
Well, this isn't a new idea. But there's problems with it. The biggest is that the existing living computing cells we have to work with are very, very slow. Yes, they work in parallel and may actually do calculations using electrons at a quantum level. We should be able to duplicate this at some point with more conventional techniques, though. Also, while there would seem like living cells would have a cost and efficiency advantage, our current techniques for building microchips are themselves rather efficient. Lithography is somewhat similar to xeroxing endless copies based on a template. Most of the cost and complexity is involved in quality control, design, and contaiminant management....which wouldn't go away if we used neurons.
It can be programmed!
By altering its DNA sequence, we can program a biological cell to do dammed near anything. We have the codes for Electric Eels. We have the codes for Photosynthesis. We have the codes to make light. We have the codes to make motion. And its completely recyclable! Foo, if it wears out or no longer provides and intended function, we can even feed it to the cat!
What are we waiting for, fellas! This is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
The Genome is source code!
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
I'm surprised DNA Computing doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere in the discussion. It's still in its infancy, but I think it shows great potential, especially for parallelizable computations.
When I was a kid i read an Ironman comic where he was using bacteria to make the computer chips for the suit. This was at least 15 yrs ago so the idea for this kind of technology has been around for a long time.
The problem to programming cells is that the program being run is likely very simple, but produces extremely complex results (and no, this is not my idea, but the idea of others - its most recent proponent is Stephen Wolfram - read his book "A New Kind of Science" for more info on this).
Now, I know I am going to be flamed or ridiculed by that last statement, but after having read the book, and realizing its implications (while simultaneously realizing that I will have to re-read the book many times over to truely understand it), I honestly believe that what Wolfram has done is original. True, there were many others before him - but he has managed to take the collected works, and work out a verbalized theory of what all of it means (instead of it continuing to be just a collection of individual research papers and such). Many others before him came close to that verbalization (which he acknowledges in the text), but did not continue with the thread of thought, or publish it in some manner.
If this is something that interests you, you owe it to yourself to read the book (as well as other books on such ideas as "emergence" - look up "Out of Control", the title of a good book on this phenomena). Also look up "Matrioshka Brains", "Sanger Institute: C. Elegans Project", "Singularity", and of course, "Nanotech", "Foresight Institute" - also "Hans Moravec".
Google on this information, it is *all* related. If you begin to understand it all, you should become both frightened and excited, all at the same time. You should also begin to question your own sanity, as well as the sanity of the world around you. Much of what is out there seems like it is something that borders on the "lunatic fringe", but once you really start to study it, it doesn't sound that implausible at all (especially the emergence stuff, and the way large corporations appear to act, if looked at as being emergent entity beings).
Have fun, and good luck (oh, btw, keep this in mind - if emergent behavior is a true thing - and everything points to that it is, as long as feedback loops exist - then what would you as a human do if one of your neurons suddenly became sentient, and realized that it made up a "whole" greater than the sum of the parts? Now, look on that as what happens if a human can figure out how a "corporate entity being" is "thinking" - don't you think that being would look to "exterminate" that rogue unit?)...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon