Intel has had a little chat about the future of the computing and robotics at the recent IDF event, and has come out with some alarming facts.
The firm predicts in just over 40 years machines may have the reasoning power of humans, though stopped short of saying they will become our masters and we will be forced to do their bidding.
"The industry has taken much greater strides than anyone ever imagined 40 years ago," said Justin Rattner, CTO of Intel said.
"There is speculation that we may be approaching an inflection point where the rate of technology advancements is accelerating at an exponential rate, and machines could even overtake humans in their ability to reason, in the not so distant future."
Lightbulbs to laptops
Intel also demoed the ability to power a 60W lightbulb without wires, which it claims could be used to wirelessly power items like laptops safely and quickly.
The system would work by transmitting the electricity over certain frequencies, by using strongly coupled resonators.
However, this technology has been mooted for nearly a century thanks to Niklas Tesla, so it will remain to be seen whether Intel finally crack it.
Other little gems spoken about were morphing computers that could change shape depending on the user's needs, and improvements to robots that could integrate them into society in the near future.
Read all about the exciting developments over at Intel's website, where YOU TOO could glimpse into the future.
Your comments (8) Click to add a new comment
tao54nyc
August 23rd 2008
8. I find it interesting that the stories we read on this topic are of a mild fear-mongering sort, i.e., the robots will force US to serve THEM nonsense. I think the future will be more a case of the first truly sentient artificial being suing to have his rights protected under the same laws that govern human behavior. (Of course, this assumes that in America, at least, we will have restored our own Constitutional guarantees by that time, doesn't it??)
OK, Techradar, now that you've forced me to endure this mind-numbing "registration" process only to make a SINGLE comment (which took more time than the comment itself), you can now UN-register me, as I'm never coming back - it's entirely the fault of the registration process.
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nicolasmerritt
August 23rd 2008
7. Spare me. I can find almost no evidence of this "gaining ground" outside of a few crackpot science sites, and the authors of that paper themselves. That's a red flag for a start. In addition, I can find ever more precise repetitions of the MM experiment, the result of which (or lack of one, rather) is one of the cornerstones of modern physics.
Why am I even wasting my time on this?
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morwynd
August 22nd 2008
6. Michelson–Morley conducted an experiment which was INTERPRETED as disproving the aether.
There are other potential interpretations of MM, which have indeed gained ground in recent years. Here's one paper for example: http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0311576
Discoveries such as virtual particles and zero-point energy have forced modern scientists to acknowledge that there must indeed be some sort of unseen energy transfer medium. Of course you can't call it "aether", that would be taboo. Instead, we see phrases like "quantum medium" being tossed around, but it's the same thing.
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nicolasmerritt
August 22nd 2008
5. By the way, the aether doesn't exist. Michelson–Morley sorted that one out over 100 years ago.
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nicolasmerritt
August 22nd 2008
4. Proximaking - that's the weirdest post I've seen on the site in ages. Bravo, sir!
Takes some talent to link Intel, Tesla, cosmology, Big Oil and quasars.
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proximaking
August 22nd 2008
3. The idea of robots being more intelligent may or may not be correct but one thing is sure Tesla's ideas about free "energy from the aether" are getting more and more backing every day, he didn't know where the power came from. The latest ideas from Shell UK, yes Shell UK, is that such units as Tesla used in his car that was a figment of his imagination (actually a real Pierce Arrow) derive their power from quasars that no longer exist and that the working parts of those quasars were no larger than grapes and yet could put out more power than trillions of suns. Blue and Pink quasars can be linked to. Google Sinclair Boffin Shell and hit "I'm feeling lucky". Only a zero dimensional (time free also) electro-magnetic-spin conceptual reality explains the results they have been getting. Is this the real reason Shell, BP and the Russian oligarchies (as of yesterday) are getting out of wind, wave and oil as fast as they can? Can we really tap into quasar power with a few (12?) oscilators, a few bits of wire and a dc motor? Surely not, .... "You can be sure of Shell".
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