{"id":8757,"date":"2021-11-03T21:52:38","date_gmt":"2021-11-03T21:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/TheNextWeb=1372046"},"modified":"2021-11-03T21:52:38","modified_gmt":"2021-11-03T21:52:38","slug":"the-4-computer-systems-of-the-future-and-what-well-use-them-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=8757","title":{"rendered":"The 4 computer systems of the future (and what we\u2019ll use them for)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Thirty years ago the height of posh was owning a portable landline phone. Now our smartphones are personal computers that can process natural language commands and run AI models on-device.<\/p>\n

In another 30 years, according to the experts<\/a>, we\u2019ll have flying cars, robot butlers, and colonies on Mars. Right?<\/p>\n

Maybe, maybe not. The next 30 years of computer advances don\u2019t seem quite as certain as the last were.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re pushing up against Moore\u2019s law<\/a> and beginning to get diminishing returns when it comes to creating more powerful classical systems.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, we\u2019re also on the cusp of several new computing paradigms. And it\u2019s clear that, at some point, we\u2019ll move beyond traditional supercomputing.<\/p>\n

Whether that happens in the next 30, 50, or 100 years, however, is a different question.<\/p>\n

So, for the sake of conversation, let\u2019s imagine a world where the four primary computer systems of the future (classical, photonic, hybrid, and quantum) have all matured into usefulness. We\u2019ll be optimistic and say this happens in the year 2051<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Classical computers<\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve got bad news for anyone planning to short binary systems in favor of emerging quantum tech: classical computers are going to be around for a lot longer than the next 30 years.<\/p>\n

Binary computers are to quantum computers what a pen and paper is to the hadron collider. The average person won\u2019t need to directly access a quantum computer or hadron collider in their lifetimes, but we all benefit from their existence.<\/p>\n

That being said, think about your iPhone. You\u2019ll still have something similar in 30 years. Maybe it\u2019ll be glasses or a neural implant (unlikely, but possible). Either way, it\u2019ll need enough onboard processing power to run discrete algorithms and applications. And that\u2019s something an iPhone can do today.<\/p>\n

And, just like smartphones today, the ones in the future will mostly just need to be powerful enough to connect to the cloud.<\/p>\n

Binary computers, in the future, will do most of the same things they do now. And for tasks requiring more horsepower than we can reasonably expect from a future PC, they\u2019ll still function as an interface to more powerful systems.<\/p>\n

Photonic computers<\/h2>\n

This is an exciting one. Photonic computer systems don\u2019t quite exist yet, but the big idea<\/a> is using photons to perform computations instead of electricity. Electrons can only travel so fast whereas photons travel at the speed of light because, you know, they literally <\/span>are<\/i> light.<\/span><\/p>\n

This means that it\u2019s possible (theoretically) to create a computer system capable of handling information at the speed of light.<\/p>\n

Researchers from IBM and the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology recently developed a working photonic switch<\/a> \u2014 a device that could essentially replace silicon-based transistors.<\/p>\n

Photonic computers could be thousands of times faster than today\u2019s most powerful binary supercomputers and, because of the way they operate, they\u2019d actually require less energy to function.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s quite plausible that this tech could mature in the next thirty years and the biggest benefit we could all see then is the advent of level-five autonomous vehicles.<\/p>\n

Yes, level-5, that\u2019s the big one. At the maximum level of autonomy a vehicle could operate itself entirely off the grid and without human oversight.<\/p>\n

This would be made possible by, essentially, squeezing a gigantic supercomputer into a tiny automobile. But instead of \u201cgiant supercomputer\u201d we substitute \u201ctiny photonic computer\u201d and assume it uses 1\/100th the energy while producing 100 to 1,000 times the power of its classical cousin.<\/p>\n

Hybrid systems<\/h2>\n

Here, we\u2019re specifically referring to hybrid classical-quantum systems. It\u2019s possible photonic computers will partner well with quantum systems, but it\u2019s beyond the scope of this article to engage in double-blind speculation.<\/p>\n

We mentioned earlier that all quantum systems will likely require some form of classical system to work as a portal, interface, or controller. But there\u2019s also a paradigm in which a system switches between classical and quantum computations or combines the results of both in order to run specific algorithms.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s interesting here is that these systems are likely to be the first \u201cquantum computers\u201d purchased off the shelf. Keep in mind, we\u2019re unlikely to solve quantum computing to such a degree that  you can set up a functional time-travelling processor<\/a> in your basement in the next 30 years.<\/p>\n

But, that\u2019s not to say there won\u2019t be a middle-ground. Quantum systems are targeted solutions to very specific problems. You can\u2019t just install an API on the IBM Q system and tap into the quantum-verse to speed up video rendering, for example.<\/p>\n

But you could, theoretically, build a system that ran an airport\u2019s flight-scheduling software through a combination of classical multitasking (to handle infrastructure) and quantum algorithms (for mathematical plotting too complex for a traditional processor to perform).<\/p>\n

Considering similar systems<\/a> already exist in rudimentary form, it\u2019s a given that the next 30 years will see big businesses (those with about a billion or so in value) purchasing and installing hybrid-quantum systems as the foundation of their IT stack.<\/p>\n

Quantum computers<\/h2>\n

Here\u2019s the fun part! Quantum computers are about 20 years away and, depending on who you talk to<\/a>, they might always be.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s quantum computers are experiments that are painstakingly built in enormous laboratories at great expense and, essentially, they solve one or two big math puzzles. It\u2019s simply impossible to guess when a functional, useful quantum computing system will arrive.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s quite possible that could change in the next 30 years. And, if it does, so will the rest of the science and technology world.<\/p>\n

Truly useful quantum computers could help us solve cold fusion, warp drives, and general artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to overstate the potential of quantum computers. The implications for the fields of chemistry, drug discovery, and pathology alone are incalculable. Billions of lives could be saved as thousands of diseases are eradicated by science.<\/p>\n

But, when it comes to harnessing spooky action at a distance or computing at the speed of light, the future is uncertain. It could take 10, 30, or even a 100 years for any of these technologies to mature.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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