WEBVTT - Computers of the Future 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:09.040 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:14.160 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello everybody, 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:16.680 and welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Poulette. 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:18.800 I'm an editor here at how stuff works dot Com 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:21.119 and sitting next to me as usual as the shiny 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:25.759 happy senior writer Jonathan Strickland. Hey there, and uh, I 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:27.960 think you said you had something to start out today's 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:30.640 podcast with. Oh yes, I have two things. The first 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:32.280 is that I have to let our listeners know we 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:36.879 have a guest producer for this podcast. Yes, Mr Matt Frederick, 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:39.480 who you can tell he's a guest producer because before 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:43.280 he hit record he said take one. Matt is unaware 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:45.479 of the fact that Chris and I always get it 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:48.879 in the first take. So Matt, if you would just 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:52.920 not even bother next time, Okay. But the second thing 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:56.560 that we have to start off this podcast is listener. 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:03.560 I feel like I've been sabotaged here listen all of y'all. 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:08.240 So this listener mayo comes from Ivan, and Ivan says, Hello, 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:11.039 Jonathan and Chris. I'm a longtime listener and a first 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:12.600 time writer, and I think it would be fun to 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:16.280 do a podcast on quantum computers. You could answer questions 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:19.440 such as, how do quantum computers handle algorithms differently than 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:22.120 classical computers? Would I be able to put together my 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:25.480 own quantum computer when our quantum computers expected in the 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:29.880 consumer market. I'm guessing about a decade by Ivan. You 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:32.920 know what, Ivan, Uh, your definition of fun and my 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:35.560 definition of fun may not be the same thing, but 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:38.399 we're gonna tackle it anyway, and we're actually gonna broaden 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:40.920 it out. We're not just gonna hit quantum computers. We're 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:49.600 going to hit computers of the future. Well, this, uh, 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:52.960 this podcast is full of holograms and and funky colors 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:56.040 and BP noises. Many both ends died to bring us 0:01:56.080 --> 0:02:03.360 this podcast? How many? Both of them? Yes? Both? All right? 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:05.840 So I guess, um, I guess first we can talk 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:09.640 a little bit about sort of the state of computers today. 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:13.399 For Chris is just Chris is gone. Chris is gone. 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:17.959 All right, I'm gonna keep going with Chris to get 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:22.480 it back under control. So classical computers, Uh, we're rapidly 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:25.400 approaching the time when most well, I guess most is 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:28.320 probably too too big a word. But some engineers believe 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:32.400 we are reaching a critical point in classical computers where 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:34.560 we won't be able to get much faster than what 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:38.239 we have right now based upon, uh, the traditional method 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:42.160 of building microprocessors. I'm guessing you're mentioning in your head 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:44.480 at least, yes, I was gonna get to that. So 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:47.000 Core's law, this is this all goes back to Moore's law. 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:49.000 And if you've listened to our podcast on Moore's law, 0:02:49.040 --> 0:02:51.840 you know what we're talking about. If you haven't, right, 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:54.359 if you haven't, I suggest going back and listening to it, 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:56.600 because it was a pretty good one, as I recall. 0:02:57.080 --> 0:02:59.440 And uh, but in general, Moore's law it was this 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:03.120 this sort of observation that Gordon Moore made back in 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:06.160 the sixties. Yeah, he's the co founder of Intel. Yes, 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:08.520 I think it was nineteen sixties seven when he made 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:11.840 this observation originally, and he observed that over the course 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:16.639 of about well, the time varies depending on when you're 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:19.200 looking at Moore's law, but we'll say eighteen months. But 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:21.399 over the course of about eighteen months, you would see 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:26.000 the number of transistors uh double on a square inch 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:28.079 of silicon chip. You would be able to pack more 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:30.560 transistors onto that chip. And there were a lot of 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:33.000 different reasons for that, but some of it was technological 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:36.320 development where you start finding new ways of making smaller transistors. 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:39.800 Part of it was economic because you could find cheaper 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:42.760 ways to mass produce transistors on a on a smaller 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:46.800 scale and UM as a result, every eighteen months or so, 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:50.400 you would see microprocessors get twice as strong as they 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:52.680 used to be because you've got twice the number of 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:57.280 components on them. And UH. For years, people have been 0:03:57.280 --> 0:04:00.400 predicting the end of Moore's law, saying that that has 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:02.600 to come to an end because how could we possibly 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:05.560 get smaller than what we're looking at now, because right 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:09.520 now we have transistors microprocessors out there with transistors that 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:12.560 around the nanoscale they're just you know, a few dozen 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:16.160 nanometers wide, and that's incredibly tiny, so tiny you can't 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:20.000 see it with a light microscope. UM. But eventually we're 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:23.279 going to hit a point where the traditional methods of 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:26.120 making these microprocessors aren't going to work because we just 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:30.839 can't make something that's small that works with electrons. So 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:34.599 at the end of the traditional cycle, which some say 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:39.080 is probably within a decade. Um, there are new ways 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:43.280 of creating processors that will sort of get around that 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:47.360 by making them three dimensional, basically stacking layers on top 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:52.159 of one another, which is you know, cheating. Yeah, that's uh, yeah, 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:54.760 it's not really cheating, of course, I mean we're being 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:58.880 a little facetious, but it's it would mean that we'd 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:01.960 be sticking more with the class sical computer than branching 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:06.000 out and trying something really really unusual and different. Um. 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:09.720 And there are several different approaches that some engineers are 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:13.960 looking at as alternatives to classical computers, things that, if 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:17.279 they work out, could be far more powerful and far 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:21.480 faster than anything we've used up to this point. And perhaps, 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:24.120 I don't know, eventually power us to the stars where 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:26.039 we can make a prime directive and not mess with 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:29.120 other people. You know, we made it to the moon 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:31.600 with less computing power than a common or sixty four, 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:33.720 so you would think that, you know, with an Atari 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:37.440 twenty we could at least make it to Mars. So um, 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:41.600 moving on the uh. One of the first one we're 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:43.440 going to tackle is the one that Ivan was asking 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:48.120 us about, which was quantum computers. So now you're classical computer. 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:53.320 It operates using operations on data, using a set of instructions, 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:58.360 and everything gets broken down into bits by binary digits 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:03.920 one or zero off exactly. So that's it. You've got 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:07.040 tons and tons and tons of these bits put together 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:11.040 to make these instructions. Um. You know, a computer might 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:15.280 be running uh bits that are or or or figures 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:19.039 that are sixty four bits long, which just doesn't sound 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:20.640 like a lot, But when you add up all the 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:23.960 different combinations that those bits can have, that's a lot. 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:26.960 And of course there that's not the upper limit at all. 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:32.600 It's just an example. So quantum computers these are different 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:38.160 because they don't use bits. They use quantum binary digits 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:42.280 or cubits, which I thought they used to measure the 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:45.480 arc but is it turns out there actually data. See 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:48.760 I thought it was an awesome nineteen eighties arcade game 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:53.400 where you jumped around on a pyramid. Oh, you're right, 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:58.000 that's exactly what I was going to say. So cubits, water, cubits, Well, 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:01.600 it's it's a special kind of bit really um quantum 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:04.000 that we're gonna have to go into quantum theory. I 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:05.839 really didn't want to have to go into quantum theory 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:09.000 because that's more of a science topic than a computer topic. 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:11.320 Also is likely to cause the staff to go get 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:13.640 them up because my brain will explode. Yeah, I may 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:17.200 have an aneurysm before I finish this this this next description. 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:21.560 So quantum theory. Quantum theory is really looking at systems 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:24.640 that are really, really, really small. We're talking on the 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:27.520 sub atomic level um. You can also use it to 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:29.840 describe some really really big systems too, but we won't 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:33.200 get into that. So on this small, small level, things 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:36.920 do not behave the way they do in our macro world. 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:40.640 Um things that make sense to us because it's on 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:45.800 a classical physics kind of a scheme. They don't that 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:48.280 the rules don't apply on the quantum scheme. So to 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:50.840 us it may seem like things are breaking the laws 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:53.080 of physics. They're not. It's just they're following a different 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:57.160 set of laws. One of these laws that will come 0:07:57.160 --> 0:08:00.760 into uh importance with the quantum peters is that you 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:07.240 can have a quantum element inhabits several states at the 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:10.760 same time. And I'm not talking like states like Idaho 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:12.880 and Montana. I wasn't going to make that. I'm just 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:14.600 I just was gonna head you off at the past 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:19.560 just in case. So bits have two states zero and one, 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:23.280 or on and off if you prefer. Now, a quantum 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:26.880 bit can be both a zero and a one at 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:29.880 the same time and all points in between. It can 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:32.719 inhabit all of those states. Now, what does this mean 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:35.320 from a computing standpoint, Well, that means that when you're 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:38.520 making a calculation, instead of having to run one set 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:41.040 of bits to do one calculation, and then a different 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:43.680 set of bits to do a different calculation, you could 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:47.120 set one set of cubits and do all possible calculations 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:50.079 within that that you know realm of of bits that 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:54.040 you're using, and it can handle a lot of calculations 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:56.800 all at the same time instead of doing you know, 0:08:56.840 --> 0:08:59.560 one thing at a time so very quickly. For example, 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:04.320 one of the one of the big possible uses of 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:09.320 a quantum computer would be to decrypt information and find 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:11.800 out what people are actually saying about you behind your back. 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:17.120 Because cryptography, a lot of the cryptography we depend upon 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:23.840 today um uses It uses factoring. And you take two 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:27.319 really really big prime numbers, you multiply them together, you 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:30.080 get another number. This becomes the basis of your cryptography 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:32.400 and only by knowing the two prime numbers that were 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:35.200 used to generate that big number, are you able to 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:40.960 decrypt the information? Now, for a classical computer to find 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:45.040 the two largest prime factors of a large number, I 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:49.120 mean we're talking huge numbers here, it can take years, 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:53.040 like millions of years in some cases for a classical 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:56.120 computer to decrypt or to to find those two factors. 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:59.120 A quantum computer, assuming that you have one that's powerful 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:01.320 enough that can run cubits, could find it in a 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:06.319 fraction of that time. So that would totally freak out. 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:11.400 I was gonna say that that's little, uh mind, Yeah, 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:14.679 it's um, which is when you get into quantum cryptography, 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:17.200 which again is going beyond the realms of this podcast. 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:20.640 I really really can't get into it because, honestly, people, 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:25.840 I barely have a grasp on this concept. I've listened 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:31.199 to so many professors and scientists talk about quantum computers 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:34.959 quantum physics, and it seems like a common element is 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:38.240 that they all will eventually admit to not really being 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:41.920 able to grasp everything about quantum theory. This is pretty 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:44.480 heavy stuff. Yeah, and like I said, a lot of 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:47.000 it seems to contradict what we know. For example, you 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:50.040 wouldn't normally say that an object can be multiple things 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:53.600 all at the same time. Um, and there's another element 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:56.920 to quantum computing that's kind of tricky. Why why don't 0:10:56.920 --> 0:10:59.560 we have quantum computers now? If we understand quantum computing, 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:02.520 aren't there quantum computers out on the market now? There 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:06.120 are quantum computers being worked on in labs um. There 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:09.200 was one that was reportedly up to sixteen cubits a 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:12.600 couple of years ago. But why aren't we seeing them now? Well, 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:14.360 one of the reasons is because it's really hard to 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:17.560 keep a quantum computer in working order. Um. There are 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:20.120 a couple of different reasons for this. The elements tend 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:22.840 to have a habit of interacting with things around their 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:25.360 environment as opposed to each other. So then you get 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:30.240 corrupt data because from what from what I understand, everything 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:32.560 stays the way it is as long as nothing touches it. 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:34.880 But since we're talking about very very tiny things and 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:37.880 things into other things, you have to be able to 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:40.960 isolate everything and not have it interact with anything other 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:43.520 than what it's supposed to interact with. Otherwise your your 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:47.600 results are not trustworthy. That seems problematic There's also the 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:50.920 the the the old principle of if you observe it, 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:56.720 you change the observed. You know this. This principle often 0:11:56.800 --> 0:11:59.920 mentioned as part of the whole shrot Injurer's cat problem. 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:04.920 Are you familiar with singers? A familiar with for those 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:10.320 who are alive maybe until you open the box? Um 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.680 so Schrodinger's cat. This is a classic quantum physics problem. 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:16.320 Uh the The idea being that you have a cat 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:20.160 shut in a box. There is a canister of poisonous 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:24.000 gas that will release sometime between say, five minutes and 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:26.160 twenty five minutes, and there's no way of predicting. It's 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:28.800 just gonna it's gonna pop open randomly sometime between five 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:31.520 and twenty five minutes. If you open up that box 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:35.000 within twelve minutes and observe the cat, it will either 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:37.960 be alive or dead. But before you open up the 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:41.320 box and observe it, it is, according to this principle, 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:44.679 both alive and dead at the same time. It only 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:47.640 becomes one or the other for sure when you open 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:50.000 it and observe it, you have changed it. The reason 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:52.760 behind this is it gets really kind of complex. But 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:56.319 if you were to try and observe quantum particles. Just 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:58.679 by the act of observing them, by hitting them with 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:01.880 a photon of light, you have changed the behavior of 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:05.000 that quantum particle. Therefore, it is no longer doing what 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:08.160 it used to do, and your measurement doesn't really matter anymore. 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:11.280 You're not measuring what it was what it had been doing. 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:13.840 You're measuring what it's doing right now after you've hit 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:18.160 it with light. Quantum computers have a similar problem. You 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:21.000 try and observe them. They've become classic computers, and you've 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:24.240 just threw into your quantum computer. Alright, So you have 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:26.640 to find a way to measure the results in such 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:29.760 a way that does not disturb the cubits themselves. And 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:32.200 also all your results are coming out in sort of 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:36.040 a probability as opposed to this is definitely the answer. 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:39.480 You might get seven percent chance that this is your answer. 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:42.440 There's a twenty percent chance that this is your answer. 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:45.120 There's a twelve percent chance that this is your answer. 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:48.320 So not necessarily something you want when you want to 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:50.480 find out what the temperature is outside. I was gonna 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:52.760 say it sounds a lot like the computer models that 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:55.960 the meteorologists use, because they say, well, on this computer 0:13:56.040 --> 0:13:59.280 I'm getting this, and that computer I'm getting that. So 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:03.320 an answer to your other questions, ivan Um, I found 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:07.600 an article in Nature that suggested that, well it was 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:10.679 by it was quoting Andrew Stein of the University of 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:15.840 Oxford in the UK um and uh, quantum computers may 0:14:15.840 --> 0:14:18.800 not really hit the consumer market. They may be more 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:21.920 niche products because of the way they do computation. I mean, 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:23.440 it's not like we're going to be going to quantum 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:27.720 Facebook and quantum Twitter to do our quantum email. Um. 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:31.280 They're they're really sort of high high end computing needs. 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:34.600 Probably not until we're eating all our meals in pill form, right, 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:40.200 But around is when he expects to to see that happen, 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:44.320 So we we should see them more prominently, assuming that 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:46.840 engineers can get beyond the problems of you know, the 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:49.520 more quantum logic gates you add to a computer, the 0:14:49.560 --> 0:14:53.600 more difficult it is to control the the cubits, and 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:56.080 therefore the more difficult it is to get reliable results. 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:58.360 You have to get past that problem first before you 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:01.520 can actually build a quantum computer of really of of 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:06.720 any meaningful power. Well, at least, quantum computing isn't what 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:08.840 I originally thought it was, which was you know, taking 0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:16.600 your laptop into Sedan. Um. Wow. Wow. Anyhow, so high 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:22.600 speed stuff has an opening. UM. The the the other 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:25.920 part of your question. Can I build one? Now? I mean, 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:28.880 if you're maybe if you're at the Stanford Research Institute 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:31.440 or something, if you're if you're on one of these 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:34.160 these projects that, yeah, you might be. You're not going 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:35.600 to pick up the parts at best by that, No, 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:36.920 it's not gonna be one of those things that you 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:40.440 order out of Popular Mechanics or anything like that. All right, 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:44.320 so we can move on to two different futuristic computers. 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:49.440 I was thinking of the DNA computers. DNA computers, okay, yeah, 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:55.960 so the ox i ribo nucleic acid computers they run 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:59.760 on good old fashioned DNA. UM. This is another one 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:03.720 of the those computers that could potentially replace classical computers, 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:07.360 at least in research institutes, just like just like quantum 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:10.640 computers could. UM. Again, you're talking about computers that can 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:14.160 perform calculations on a parallel kind of scheme where they're 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:17.640 they're running multiple applications all at the same time, multiple 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:23.200 um uh computations. I guess you could say, UM and 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:25.960 it runs on DNA, and one of the things that 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:28.920 it really has going for it is that DNA is 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:31.760 kind of cheap because there's a lot of it around. 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:35.960 Turns out, what do you know, spitting this cup all right, 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:40.440 we've got enough computing power for the next five years. Um. Yeah, 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:42.320 it's kind of cool. And there are a lot of 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:44.960 different teams that are working on DNA computers and they're 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:49.720 really looking at molecular biology as a way of, uh 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:53.160 of of advancing computer science to levels that we can 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:56.040 only kind of dream of right now. Um, again, this 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:59.400 is stuff that is kind of in the research phase. 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.840 It's it's fairly recent. Um. The the original idea of 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:06.280 the DNA computer, I would say probably dates back to 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:10.200 early nineties, So quantum computers actually we're theaterrized back in 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:15.040 the early eighties. But uh, we're still in that very 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:17.080 early stage where people are looking at ways where they 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:19.919 can harness d N A and use that as a 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:25.040 coding mechanism for um for computational problems. Do you have 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:28.239 anything to add to that? Not to that topic, I 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:30.840 was going to bring up some uh, some computers at 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:34.359 the very near future, and I was thinking that, you know, 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:36.720 based on some of the other topics we've discussed on 0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:40.080 the podcast. I think quantum or quantum computing may not 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:42.399 be what we see on our desktop in two years, 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:44.640 But what we see on our desktop in two years 0:17:44.720 --> 0:17:47.120 is probably going to be very small, like portable, and 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:49.680 may not even have a hard drive in it because 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:53.240 everything is moving to the web. I mean memory and uh, 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:57.320 memory and storage space are basically you know, very very 0:17:57.400 --> 0:17:59.600 very cheap at this point, and I think that's just 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:03.479 going to encourage more companies to offer cloud computing for 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:07.000 storage and software as a service. Um, you're likely to 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:11.879 see netbooks and tablets and uh, you know even you know, 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:17.119 cell phone convergence devices. Hey, I use your favorite word, um, 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:20.680 you know so and in the very near future, people, 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:23.080 a lot of people, including a person sitting across me, 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:27.640 think that thinks that desktops are going away. I think 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:33.359 they might become the realm of enterprise, you know, uh, 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:37.639 method you'll still see him. I thinking in school labs 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:42.680 and and uh and corporate offices, right, I don't think. 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:46.080 And apparently our producer thinks he's going to have a 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:50.080 desktop computer for a very long time because he's miming it. Um. 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:53.280 Either that or he's itching in some spot. Well, he 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:57.359 uses a Mac and that doesn't count. Everyone knows about 0:18:57.400 --> 0:19:02.320 my anti max bias. Your so the the yeah, we 0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:04.840 should have like the text stuff drinking game. You drink 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:07.040 every time Jonathan says he has an anti mac bias. 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:10.200 Drink every time the word convergence comes up. Um. Cloud 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:12.400 computing would be another one, you guys would be tanked 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:17.160 by now. And then there's something else magnetic ram oh yeah, yeah, 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:21.000 things that are going to improve the day to day 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:24.880 performance and portability of computing. Well, that was another one 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:27.760 of the one of the elements of DNA computers is 0:19:27.800 --> 0:19:32.000 that DNA, of course, is incredibly tiny, and you can 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:37.280 pack um enough DNA into a cubic centimeter of space 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:40.480 too to get I think it's something like something ridiculous 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:44.040 like ten terra flops of of processing speed, which is 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:49.160 pretty freaking fast. Um it's very powerful computer, especially when 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:52.640 you consider that's one cubic centimeter. That's not necessarily all 0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:55.880 that you would have. UM. I was going to talk 0:19:55.880 --> 0:20:00.600 about one other kind of possible future computer, optical computers 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:05.480 or photonic computers. Yeah. These are computers that instead of 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:10.040 using electrons as uh, the method of conveying information. That's 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:15.399 the way classical computers do convey information. If you weren't aware, Um, 0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:18.680 it's a hole through electrons. It's there. Aren't actually hamsters 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:21.000 running around inside your computer, no matter how old it 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:24.400 might be. I mean, unless you turn your computer into 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:27.320 a hamster farm, which I guess you could do. No. 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:31.040 Photonic computers use light instead of electrons, so little beams 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:33.439 of light to turn on and off. And you know, 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:36.880 it's just like bits. You've got two different states. You've 0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:40.120 got on and you've got off. And of course light 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:43.200 travels pretty darn fast. In fact, it travels faster than 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:46.120 just about anything else we can think of. So you're 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:52.040 talking about a high speed computing system that could potentially 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:55.080 leave classical computers behind. Again, you have to be able 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:59.600 to build a an optical core, an optical CPU at 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:02.359 the center of this computer. Um. I've read about a 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:07.240 few different experiments that have tried to do this. Most 0:21:07.280 --> 0:21:12.200 of them involve um cooling the CPU to a temperature 0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:16.160 not that much warmer than absolute zero, which is kind 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:20.280 of impractical for the home. It seems reasonably impractical. Yeah, 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:23.120 we're probably fairly expensive. Yes, when you're when you're talking 0:21:23.119 --> 0:21:25.879 about maybe a degree or two above the temperature of 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:29.679 deep space. That's not necessarily something most of us can 0:21:29.720 --> 0:21:33.440 achieve nor would want in our home. A honey, where 0:21:33.480 --> 0:21:36.240 do we put the liquid nitrogen? Right? Actually, you probably 0:21:36.240 --> 0:21:38.720 need liquid helium. I think nitrogen would only get you 0:21:38.880 --> 0:21:41.919 down to yeah, because liquid helium would be what they 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:47.840 use over at the Large Hadron Collider. But yeah, optical computers. 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:51.959 That could be another another future computer that will replace 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:56.000 classical computers, at least in the research firm area. So again, 0:21:56.280 --> 0:21:59.160 not necessarily something that we're gonna see on our desktop 0:21:59.200 --> 0:22:02.080 at home we're in our Xbox games or anything like that, 0:22:02.680 --> 0:22:07.080 but it would be it would be I got you know, 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:11.480 you'd be like, man, it takes almost point zero zero 0:22:11.640 --> 0:22:14.120 zero eight seconds for Firefox to load. I can't believe 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:18.159 how slow it is. You know, we'd still complain of 0:22:18.760 --> 0:22:20.679 it would be instantaneous to us, but it would be 0:22:20.760 --> 0:22:26.760 just slightly less instantaneous than it should be. So uh well, 0:22:26.800 --> 0:22:28.879 I mean that's those were the three biggies that I 0:22:28.920 --> 0:22:32.320 wanted to hit. Were um, quantum, DNA, and optical. Uh 0:22:32.440 --> 0:22:35.600 did you have anything else? Add? Not really awesome? Then 0:22:35.600 --> 0:22:37.359 we can wrap this up and of course, We've already 0:22:37.359 --> 0:22:39.080 done our listener mail and I'm not going to torture 0:22:39.080 --> 0:22:42.760 you with a second one. So everyone, if you want 0:22:42.800 --> 0:22:45.439 to learn more, we have articles at how stuff works 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:48.240 dot com about all this sort of stuff, including quantum computers, 0:22:48.280 --> 0:22:53.000 quantum cryptography, DNA computers. So if you really want to 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:55.720 learn more about the future of computing, visit the website. 0:22:55.720 --> 0:22:57.760 We go into a lot more detail there and linked 0:22:57.800 --> 0:23:00.400 to other really good resources as you can, And if 0:23:00.400 --> 0:23:02.879 you really want to explore this and learn more, I 0:23:03.040 --> 0:23:06.720 highly recommended. The topics are so deep and and dense 0:23:06.840 --> 0:23:09.480 it's hard to really tackle them in the podcast format, 0:23:09.920 --> 0:23:12.119