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Massively Parallel Computer Built From Single Layer of Molecules
djeps sends in this excerpt from the Physics arXiv Blog:
"Japanese scientists have built a cellular automaton from individual molecules that carries out huge numbers of calculations in parallel. ... At the heart of their experiment is a ring-like molecule called 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-p-benzoquinone, or DDQ. This has an unusual property: it can exist in four different conducting states, depending on the location of trapped electrons around the ring. What's more, it's possible to switch the molecule from one to state to another by zapping it with voltages of various different strengths using the tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope. It's even possible to bias the possible states that can form by placing the molecule in an electric field. Place two DDQ molecules next to each other and it's possible to make them connect. ... When one molecule changes its state, the change in configuration ripples from one molecule to the next, forming and reforming circuits as it travels."
This is impressive discovery, but it's no longer news. The paper was published in April 2010: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nphys1636 Admittedly the authors only recently uploaded a copy to arXiv on October 17, but can we not pretend this is some breaking news for nerds?
Colorless green Cthulhu waits dreaming furiously.
Cricket anyone?
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Nice summary in MIT Tech Review. Rightly points out that parallel computation is the key to energetically efficient processing, but doesn't mention the first thing that came to my mind, namely that many ion channels expressed by neurons in the brain also exhibit multiple conductance states. I wonder if the computerized intelligence that eventually destroys us all will use arrays of these things in its robo-neurons.
He once inserted random mutations into his code, just so he could have the experience of debugging.
Very cool stuff, but... How is this useful information for those of us who aren't chemical engineers?
I'm still waiting for quantum processors and biological hard drives to hit the market.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Or at least that's the best explanation I could think of. I wonder how stable this molecules are: If they degrade or are sensitive to light.
Past a certain point, aren't most uber-computers just going to end up being used to institute and maintain tyranny (aka death of privacy) - if not by Fatherland Security, then by corporations (assuming these will remain two separate entities)? Careful what you wish for, qubit-wise.
With regards to the "one molecule affects the next", there's this kid theory that still considers the universe a type of aether -- the one that was debunked in the Michaelson-Morley experiment last century. You could consider existence to be a big blob of jello and matter as we know it is just perturbations in the jello. Perturb the jello *here* and it will affect the jello *there* to a certain extent, depending on distance, other perturbations, etc. Jello could be swapped with spacetime, of course, but spacetime doesn't allow for everything being inherently connected -- vacuums matter too much.
So if you knew the initial conditions of the universe, you could conceivably predict everything since, if you knew how the perturbations affected each other. It would be difficult of course (pretty much impossible) but if you consider that the previous occurrence directly defines what the next occurrence will be...
Okay, this is going to be totally knocked off as irrelevant but I thought I'd share. :-)
FTFPDF
Writing, erasing and retrieving information: In Fig. 3a we demonstrate the
sequential writing of a state 1 matrix on a state 0 surface. The states are stored as static
information until spontaneous pattern evolution is triggered externally. By scanning the
surface at -1.68 V one can reset all molecules to state 0, thus erasing the information. To
retrieve information the surface is scanned at ~0.2 V (Figure 1d).
Logic gate: The effects resulting from Rule 3 appear similar to the interactions in
the Billiard Ball Model,31 which has been used to design logic gates. We have realized an
AND logic gate based on interactions in which Rule 1 dominates over Rule 3. A
schematic logic device is shown in Figure 3c. A random composition of states 1 and 3
(density > 0.5 electrons/nm2) written in a circular form is a logical "1" and the absence of
any such composition is a logical "0". If we write two logical "1"s at most 15 nm (15
cells) apart, only then a new composition is created automatically on the surface
depicting logical state "1". If any one or both input compositions are absent we do not get
such an output; rather states collapse at the same space (Figure 3d), we get a logical "0"
at the output location. Thus we realize an AND gate. A large number of such logic gates
could be operated in parallel on DDQ CA by separating those by ~15 CA cells. The
output of a logic gate could be transported to the input of another logic gate, as described
in Figure 3b.
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
This is getting scary, folks. Speaking in general, the Human Race's ability to advance technology in many fields has already out-paced our maturity as a Species, and our ability to fully comprehend the ramifications of what we create. Somewhere there's coming another "Big Bang", and I hope we survive it.
Moleculatronic Computer - 125% beam attack!
This is an awsome project, but the researchers make some claims that are not true. First, this is not a CA, as molecules affect other molecules in a big radius not just their neighbours. Second, a computer is not massively parallel just because it's realized on a CA. That's like saying that silicon-based chips are massively parallel because each of the great number of electrons "computes" its path on its own.
So, how do I overclock this?
Sorry, I just can't get the idea of a very small dekatron out of my head.
"Massively Parallel Computer Built"
At best it sounds like they have demonstrated some physical effect.
There is a big difference between the discovery of the electron and the building of an electron microscope.
Let's not get carried away here. Just because you can set up these molecules as dominoes and start a cascade does not mean this is useful, reliable, or scalable.
There are a whole lot of sticking points, like how do you set up the computation, how do you reset all the molecules to the charged state, how do you set initial conditions, and how fast and reliable are the "computations"? Lots of sticky wickets there.
Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these.