Jump to content

Computer Nightmare Scenario for 2040 ?


Monroe

Recommended Posts

Wasn't sure if this should be here as news or a prediction.

THE MATRIX OVERLOADED - Computers will use more electricity than the entire world can generate by 2040, tech experts claim

Nightmare scenario means humanity will be simply unable to power the systems which keep us alive

by Jasper Hamill

25th July 2016

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1498750/computers-will-use-more-electricity-than-the-entire-world-can-generate-by-2040-tech-experts-claim/

Modern humans depend on their computers to do everything from ordering food to finding a romantic partner.

But the current digital big bang could end with a disappointing whimper because humanity may be unable to produce enough power to keep computers running, experts have warned.

A leading technical organised called the Semiconductor Industry Association has produced a study which said that computer-crazy society will be running short of electricity by 2040.

It wrote: “Computing will not be sustainable by 2040, when the energy required for computing will exceed the estimated world’s energy production.”

The Semiconductor Industry Association meets every year to discuss how electronic components called transistors – which power computer circuits – can be made ever smaller.

Now the organisation is conceding that they probably won’t get any tinier, heralding the end of an era where computers got faster and faster as transistors shrunk to every tinier sizes.

This means tech firms will have to think of new ways to make computers powerful enough to keep up with demands.

“Driverless cars and personalised medicine along with countless other applications of intelligent systems are on the horizon, the Semiconductor Industry Association added.

The year 2040 carries a huge resonance in the tech world, because some people believe that’s when artificial intelligence will become as clever as us humans – a moment known as the singularity.

...

Link to comment
Share on other sites


If that ever happens, I'll probably go off the grid and pull out my 486 (it can't run Windows 95 very well (I've always experienced 95 on Pentium-class machines, so I was surprised to see that it can actually be so slow), but it ought to run 3.1 okay).

c

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dunno, this sounds to me like a classic case of projecting current trends into the far future, as if people would not respond accordingly.

We're supposed to have run out of energy, what -- two or three times already? I remember attending a college lecture in 1979-80 by some supposed energy expert who confidently predicted that we'd run out of petroleum before the year 2000. He had the stats and the charts to prove it.

But people (markets, companies, individuals, even governments) do respond to changing conditions and they devise solutions that today's experts cannot even conceive of.

Who knows, maybe by 2040 we will even have overcome this "Internet of Things" urge to put a chip on every freakin' thing that sits in our homes, and the issue will be irrelevant.

--JorgeA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...