Technology Corner

It's Not Brain Surgery, You Know

When you are next reading an article that is raving about the latest processor to emerge onto the computer market, spare a thought for one of the most advanced processors known to man. Your brain. Yes, we posses something that is still considerably more advanced than the Supercomputers of today. But how long will it be before computers begin to get close or even catch up?

For a long time, it was said that computers were not intelligent because they could not play a reasoning game, such as chess. Once a chess computer successfully beat a grand master, the goal posts were moved. Since then they have been moved several times and are now at a point where computers will need to be able to learn and communicate at a human level, before they are judged to be intelligent.

At the moment computers are still using semiconductor technology which while constantly improving, still has its limits. It stores information in a two-dimensional binary format that limits the size of its storage. If we increase the machines ability to store complex data, such as images and sound and then make processors that are fast enough to process this information, then we will have a system that can learn and use it's lessons for future reference. At the moment our most sophisticated computers can only imitate the learning gained by an individual up to the age of 3.

In article - 1, I talked about processors that are being developed that use single electrons to store information. When this is achieved we will have practically reached the limit of semiconductor technology. Although this will go a long way to increasing a processor's speed and effectiveness, it will still leave us short of the mark, and so scientists are being forced to look for alternatives. Some forward thinkers have already started researching into different technologies that will increase the power of computers by an incredible amount, and have made progress that has excited the computer industry to the point where funding into further research is guaranteed. They have come up with a protein molecule that can be used to store information. The science is, to say the least, extremely complicated, but it revolves around certain types of protein, one in particular goes under the name of bacteriorhodopsin, being able to store information after being subjected to a cycle of different color lasers. The protein in question behaves in much the same way as the protein that exists within our retina. When light falls on the protein one of its components, chromophore, triggers a change in the proteins optical and electrical characteristics. This alteration in the proteins composition can then be read by either optical or electrical detectors. It does not stop there however. At the moment all of our information is stored in two dimensions, be it on the surface of a hard disk or on a wafer of silicon.

The research into the protein storage device has shown that it is possible to store information in a cube array that adds a third dimension to the equation. For example now we are at a limit of about 100 million bits per square centimeter. Three-dimensional optical technology could probably yield a figure that was closer to one trillion bits per cubic centimeter.

To cut a long story short, this technology when mixed with the capabilities of today's semiconductors, will be able to provide vast amounts of storage space, 30 plus gigabytes per device would be a conservative estimate.

I think that in the future, our computers will contain components that are part silicon, part organic and that will be able to pool a huge amount of information. Combine this with the ability to obtain that information via learning and you are faced with a machine that could come close to your own abilities. It will then be time for us to move the goal posts, once again.

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