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Subject: Re: Is there a theoretical limit to the speed of a processor?

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 17:12:36 06/06/02

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On June 06, 2002 at 19:40:56, Roy Eassa wrote:

>On June 06, 2002 at 18:06:27, Dan Andersson wrote:
>
>>I know you said that you were interested in current technologies. But the
>>theoretical limit of a processor is a function of the fundamentals of physics.
>>In the rough one can say that the maximum performance is dependant on the mass
>>of the processor. The bigger the processor the larger the amout of computations
>>that can be performed. But the speed of a sequential algorithm is bounded by the
>>speed of light and therefore you have to increase the density of the matter.
>>There you reach another limit, the black hole limit. Thus it is possible to give
>>a limit to the computational power of mass per kilogram. Look for the papers of
>>Seth Lloyd. If you limit yourself to current processes. It's a procedure of
>>finding the mean critical path length in the processor.
>>
>>MvH Dan Andersson
>
>
>
>In any case, how many more years can we keep doubling speed every 1.5 - 2 years
>before we run into the laws of physics?  I can't imagine it's more than a few
>decades more.


I find it amazing that we have not already run into this.  Clock frequencies
above 2 gigahertz are way into the microwave range, and electrical properties
of things change way up there...  How electrons propagate.  How atoms physically
move around.  Etc.




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