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IBM's Grain Of Sand Computer
I'm not sure whether the following illustration compares IBM's new computer to kosher salt, the grains of which tend to be larger, or regular Morton's table salt, but it's impressive either way,
(Grain of sand-sized computer compared to salt)
To enable this, the device features a processor with “several hundred thousand” transistors, SRAM memory, a communications unit that consists of an LED that can send messages by blinking, and a photodetector that can pick up optical signals. Plugging such a tiny device into the mains is clearly not feasible, so it comes with a photovoltaic cell to power it.Costing less than 10 cents to manufacture, the company envisions the device being embedded into products as they move around the supply chain. The computer’s sensing, processing, and communicating capabilities mean it could effectively turn every item in the supply chain into an Internet of Things device, producing highly granular supply chain data that could streamline business operations.
Hmm, "granular supply chain data", I get it...
Computers the size of sand grains? We will soon be able to construct a gigagnostotron like the one described in Stanislaw Lem's 1965 novel The Cyberiad: Fables for the Cybernetic Age.
The desert on our planet is in reality no desert, but a Gigagnostotron, in other words a good 10^9 times more powerful than this primitive device of yours. Our ancestors... thought to make the very sand beneath their feet intelligent..."
(Read more about Lem's gigagnostotron)
Via Singularity Hub.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 4/6/2018)
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