[extropy-chat] Computing Power: Moore's Law keeps going and going and going

[Emlyn]

On 01/02/06, Robert Bradbury <robert.bradbury at gmail.com> wrote:
> The conversion to electricity in-body probably makes it less efficient.  The
> transmission of electricity through the skin is going to involve induction
> coils (similar to the battery chargers in electric toothbrushes) and that
> will involve losses.  I was thinking along the lines of bioluminescent
> bacteria which are in most, if not all, cases driven off of ATP.  Conversion
> of glucose into ATP is I believe fairly efficient from a thermodynamic point
> of view.  Conversion of glucose directly to electricity is probably going to
> require new enzymes and/or some kind of a fuel cell structure.  If you want
> to transport the energy efficiently you either need chemical carriers (and
> piping) or wires.
>
> R.
>

Is efficiency terribly important in this case? If we can do ATP to
electricity in body, and that causes weight loss (I'm not sure if it
would; would stored fat be used for ATP production?? Or would it just
make you really tired all the time?) then you already have a use for
it, even if the amount of power generated is next to useless. And I
agree with Damien, if you have to have a permanent break in the skin
for a catheter, that's not going to fly.

--
Emlyn

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