The Future of Computing

webglee writes "What will the relationship between computing and science bring us over the next 15 years? That is the topic addressed by the web focus special of Nature magazine on the Future of Computing in Science. Amazingly, all the articles are free access, including a commentary by Vernor Vinge titled 2020 Computing: The creativity machine."

Comments

Re:Which Nature magazine?

[caluml]

What? Why is this flamebait?

No more computers by year-end 2005

[fastgood]

Three Dell TV spots recently did not even mention the word "computer" once.

An HP newspaper ad last week contained 500+ words of copy, and the closest they got to that naughty bit word was in the fine print with the phrase "computing environment" when referring to thin client boxes connecting to a server.

C**PUTERS are obsolete for Dell and Hewlett Packard!

Not to be Funny But...

[eno2001]

...that all depends on how we define science in the next few decades. Currently science is under attack for political reasons and will likely experience some level of change if something isn't done to curb the diretion things are going. The political motivation behind the current debasement of science is money. There are some very wealthy people who stand to make, keep or lose a lot of money depending on how much science the average person is made aware of. Those people are trying to muddy the waters and bring pseudoscience and fantasy (Intelligent Design, UFOs, Angels, and the like) to the same level of respect that science once held. Sadly, it appears to be working since there are many average people out there who would rather believe in old myths reframed in today's culture than actually dig into real scientific explanations for certain things.

Another part of the problem is that many of the "scientists" themselves are the people with the money and political motivation to keep science from the masses. (I put scientists in quotes since they tend to be more businessmen than scientists which is usually a horrible combination when it comes to society at large) A perfect example is Donald Rumsfeld and his connection to the Searle corporation. Searle developed Nutrasweet by way of serendipity while researching some medicines. The administrations before Reagan would not OK Nutrasweet for mass consumption. This was obviously detrimental to Searle's, and Rumsfeld's cash flow. So during the Reagan administration, a former employee of Searle was appointed to the FDA by Ronald Reagan. This appointee only did one thing and then resigned. He approved Nutrasweet for mass consumption. (Look it up if you don't believe me) The reason that Nutrasweet was not approved before this time was that too many animal tests indicated that Nutrasweet could cause tumors and a wide variety of illness. Many of these illnesses are not life threatening, but are discomforting enough to cause the sufferer to seek out medical attention. Usually on inspection, the doctor will prescribe medication from a large pharmaceutical company (in some cases Searle) which will take care of the symptoms but will be required for the patient as long as they suffer those symptoms. Nice perpetual motion money making system there...

So some scientists are crooked and simply work to further the interests of their employers rather than improving the human condition. Other scientists who work to improve our understanding of the universe, our planet and ourselves are rarely rewarded for their work and these days are being attacked as "heretics" in our newly "christian nation". So I would say that if things continue as they are going now, we'll have science churches that preach Intelligent Design and prisons to put the heretical non-christian scientists in. The computers of the day will be nothing more than glorified televisions that pass along the "wisdom" of the christian sanctioned "scientists". And the corporations and governmental bodies who live off of these systems will employ the wealthiest people in the world. Assuming that the rest of the world doesn't wise up and bomb us into oblivion...