[extropy-chat] Desirability of Singularity (was Are ancestor simulations immoral?)

Eugen Leitl eugen at leitl.org
Tue Jun 6 10:44:24 UTC 2006


On Tue, Jun 06, 2006 at 11:18:42AM +0100, Russell Wallace wrote:

> There are proposals, at least in outline, for how e.g. a multiplier circuit
> could be made to work for less energy than neurons use to do the equivalent.

Neurons are not particularly good at multiplication. However...
Is 0.3 eV for a single switching event good enough for you?
http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/7/2/11

Notice that a spintronics device is completely static; i.e. it consumes
no energy when it's not switching. 
 
> Are there any proposals, even in outline, for how bits could be transmitted
> over distances of millions of nanometers, for less energy than neurons use

Would single-photon emitters and detectors be good enough for you?
In principle you can compute with about the same amount of energy
a single enzymatic reaction takes. Plenty of room at the bottom,
obviously.

> to do that? (I'm not saying it is or isn't possible, just wondering if
> anyone has an idea how it might be done.)

Of course. Just don't use our current computers for a yardstick.

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
______________________________________________________________
ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820            http://www.ativel.com
8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A  7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 191 bytes
Desc: Digital signature
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20060606/07d0f978/attachment.bin>


More information about the extropy-chat mailing list