Future forms of computing

[jorge_jmt]

I read a month ago about some new computing forms, which are, Holographical, Quantum, DNA and Molecular Computing, they consist on diferent forms of storing data and carrying on processes.

[orbsycli]

Yup

[Buffy]

Good article in this month's SciAm (May 06) on DNA computing. Its actually kinda sorta working, although its hard to get a fullblown Turing Machine, they've at least got a minimal finite state machine and a plan to use it to deploy anti-cancer drugs...

Write 0, shift left,
Buffy

[alexander]

Created by Leonard Adelman in the early 1990s, i think 1994, he first showed a proof of concept with the use of DNA computer to solve the Hamiltonian Path, i think it was a 7 point one... its quite amazing actualy, if you are interested, there is an article on wiki about it with some references... enjoy...

(edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_computer so you dont have to search, oh and it is a 7 point problem pwned )

[Mercedes Benzene]

I think DNA computers are very promising. Clearly if DNA is reliable enough to provide the means of the continuation of a species, it can be harnessed to provide computations for humans.
I also recommend the article in this month's issue of Scientific American. Check it out if you get the opportunity to do so.

[alexander]

another really promosong technology is quantum networks, they use sister atoms to transport data over a cable many times faster then the speed of light, and it is 100% more secure then fiber, granted you can splice fiber and put a signal regenerator with a tap in the middle, to listen to the signal, but since there is no electrons or photons that actually flow in a quantum network, such means can not be used to access the data...

[CraigD]

Originally Posted by alexander

another really promosong technology is quantum networks, they use sister atoms to transport data over a cable many times faster then the speed of light, and it is 100% more secure then fiber, granted you can splice fiber and put a signal regenerator with a tap in the middle, to listen to the signal, but since there is no electrons or photons that actually flow in a quantum network, such means can not be used to access the data...

That does sound like a wonderful technology, but it also sounds like the fictional FTL communication device commonly called an “ansible”, which is purely fictional – it can’t, according to quantum mechanics, actually work.

All of the “quantum network” devices of which I’m aware are based on a scheme invented by and first implemented in 1989 by Charles Bennett and Gilles Brassard, in which a sequence of bits is transmitted as a sequence of single polarizing photons, (usually over a fiber optic cable, but, in principle, other media could work). After transmission, sender and receiver exchange as plaintext information about their choices for polarization angle (but not the actual bit sequence), and about half of the bits can then be used for sender and receiver to independently build a matching key pair (such as RSA). If an eavesdropper in any way measured the polarity of the message photons, and made even 1 different 50/50% guess for each bit of the sequence than the receiver did, the receiver will have a different bit sequence than the sender, the key he generates will not match the senders, a test “hello” message sent in cyphertext will fail to decrypt correctly, and the eavesdropper will have been detected.

All of this happens no faster than lightspeed, and the scheme can’t prevent eavesdropping, only detect it.

[alexander]

infact there is a 5 node quantum network in Boston, there was a poll on this some time ago, and i posted links and so forth, i think it was on the best technological advances of 2004 or something, can't be that hard to find, we havent had too many polls

[ronthepon]

Originally Posted by Mercedes Benzene

I think DNA computers are very promising. Clearly if DNA is reliable enough to provide the means of the continuation of a species, it can be harnessed to provide computations for humans.
I also recommend the article in this month's issue of Scientific American. Check it out if you get the opportunity to do so.

Hellooooooo! DNA mutates! It is prone to errors while replication!

If our computers start doing that we are in trouble!

[Mercedes Benzene]

Hellooooooo! DNA mutates! It is prone to errors while replication!

If our computers start doing that we are in trouble!

DNA does not just sit there thinking "I think I'll mutate today!".
It has to happen from some outside stimuli.
It's not like we're gonna sit there pouring carcinogens on it, or exposing it to radiation.
Mutation would definitely not be an issue.