[ExI] The Coming War on General Computation

[Eugen Leitl]

On Wed, Jan 04, 2012 at 03:22:40AM -0800, Ben Zaiboc wrote:

> We now risk a world where no-one is allowed to make an MPU without built-in
> mechanisms for surveillance and control.  General-purpose computing would
> become a thing of the past, and anyone who tried to build one would be a
> criminal.  Free software, of course, would be dead in the water.

We do have open hardware, and the means of production are
slowly but surely coming to individuals and small groups.

Rapid prototyping goes beyond just extruding blobby polymers.
E.g. consider http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/silver-ink-solution-for-cheaper-faster-flexible-circuits-54967
then think Memjet and http://www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.aspx?id=38973

Even considering MIPS and SPARC, there are much simpler
systems possible http://excamera.com/sphinx/fpga-j1.html

Future serial additive nanolithography will have a lot more
in common with inkjet and dip pen printing than semiconductor
photolitho on giant wafers we do today.