Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 8
What's Next?
You will remember the beginning of humankind. Our first
parents were quick to get themselves into trouble. They were
expelled from the garden of Eden. I understand That Adam
took Eve's hand, and said! “My dear, we are living in a time
of transition
Stafford Beer
“World in Torment”
Predicting the future is a dubious and ungrateful undertaking. Too many factors that
are not apparent today may suddenly change the well-known and seemingly
obvious trends.
And yet I would like to try to look slightly ahead, going somewhat beyond the
issues discussed in this topic, and imagine the future of molecular devices for
information processing. Let's start with digital computing devices.
8.1 Do the Developers of Digital Computers with von
Neumann Architecture Need Molecular Components?
Maturation and development of the postindustrial society is accompanied by the
emergence of serious problems that can only be solved by complex and quite
laborious calculations. The computational power of modern commercial computers
is a far cry from what is needed in such cases. Therefore, unique computing
systems—supercomputers—are being created in the industrialized countries.
One of the best-known and important issues is preservation and development of
nuclear deterrence weapons in the context of the international ban on nuclear
testing. In the end of the last decade of the past century, the Military Applications
Division (DAM) of the French Atomic and Alternative Energies Commission
(CEA) began a program of numerical simulation of nuclear processes required for
decision-making about
the storage time and further development of nuclear
