Evolution Continues
The
four major inventions of history are thought to be the wheel, the plow,
the printing press and the internet. I would argue the digital computer
belongs on the list whether in addition to or in place of the internet.
I favor in addition to.
In fact, the computer may well be the
invention that replaces us. By simple projections of Moore's Law, a
computer with the capacity of the human brain is within ten years, and
in another ten years, will cost less then $1000. Where will your job be
then?
By 2068, the computer will be able to think all the
thoughts in the history of man in less than a second; by 2088, it will
measure only a cubic centimeter and cost less than $1000. Where will you
be then?
The
projected computer makes a natural space explorer since it can exist
in space and draw energy naturally. These will be the real explorers and,
indeed, inhabitants of space. This, I suspect, answers Fermi's Paradox.
