Future Computers The advancement in computers has been incredible, we have achieved a state where most of us have a computer, cell phone or both which can meet all our needs. I am talking about phone calls, texting, word processing, photo taking, editing all sorts of things and even doing our taxes. Who would have ever thought we would be able to use a cell phone to take great movies? There are even gadgets out there which can attach to our devices and do different medical functions such as cardiograms. While all these functions would have been unbelievable if you would have told people fifty years ago would be here, what the future holds in computing may be far more incredible. We know there are now two different types of computers, one I will call the classical, which is the one many of us have grown up with and the quantum computer which is in its infancy. At this point us regular people have no need for a quantum computer even if they became available for the home in a reasonably priced package. Having said that, it seems right now that is where the biggest advancements in science will come from in the future. It could turn out both systems will be around in the foreseeable future and the classical system will become even cheaper. You can already buy a computer on a board for about $25.00. It is called the Raspberry Pi. Classical computers will be changing. It is only a matter of time before 3D technology comes to them and allows us to see everything on them this way. This will be the first step in improving the way we view things. The next step will probably be holographic displays. Virtual reality is already here but it is not universal when viewing everything on a computer. Do people really want to always be immersed into what they are looking at? I believe there are times when they don’t. Another problem with virtual reality is wearing the headset. Look for this to be improved in the future. Projecting a holograph and being able to walk around it might be a better way to go for at least some of us and while using virtual reality for games. There has been some experimentation with holographic keyboards for classical computers. While this is interesting it would be even better if someone could figure out how to make them feel like they are real. Perhaps sound vibrations could be utilized in some way. Will the monitor on a computer become a thing of the past? It could very well happen and if I was a betting man I would say yes. This could be tied in with putting computers into clothing or making the computer itself so small you could just carry it like you would a coin and it would beam the display to a special pair of glasses. The glasses could be prescription or non-prescription depending on what is needed. There will be a new technology which will allow the sound to be cast to the image or directly into one’s ear. There is already technology which allow sound to be heard inside the head. Quantum computers will be used for the high tech experiments and programs. Some claim there is no limit to what a quantum computer will be able to do. Right now, they are at the stage our classical computers were in at the end of the 1940s. I am not referring to their ability, but to the hardware. It takes a lot of hardware to run one quantum computer. The quantum computer unlike the classical computer has more switches. A classical computer has only 0s and 1s which stand for on and off. A quantum computer has on, off and both on and off at the same time. This allows for more complex computing and quicker answers to problems, some of which a classical computer, no matter how powerful, could never solve. One of the things which is necessary in a future computer will be a much better power source. The Russians have invented a small atomic powered battery. They claim it is economical and can last for about 20 years. The battery is getting cheaper and can be scaled up or down and they claim it is not dangerous. Twenty years would probably far outlast the device it would power if it was a computer. Who still uses the same computer they did 20 years ago? Not very many people. Other battery experimentation is taking place all over the world. I think it is only a matter of time before we will have permanent batteries in our device which will never need a charge. One of the big things will be changing the way we get on the internet. The internet will be available no matter where we are because it will probably come from satellites directly to us without the need for a dish. This is the holy grail of internet. Imagine if you could walk around and not need to use cellular data. It will most likely be a lot faster also. You will get the speed as advertised and not have it decreased as it is today when more people get on the circuit. For years we have been hearing it will be impossible to make circuits on chips any smaller, and yet we keep finding a way. On top of that computer chip companies have also figured out how to give us more cores and how to pile layers of chips on top of each other making the central processing unit in our computers even more powerful as time goes by. The speed of the chips will increase as the need for cooling them disappears due to new materials and techniques. Today heat is the problem and limits their speed. Lastly, I want to talk about the belief some scientists have concerning computers. They believe if computers keep getting more powerful there will come a time when they finally become sentient. This is where I disagree. I have always said since a computer uses only programs written by humans, it will never be alive biologically. What will probably happen is it will act in such a way it seems to be alive and fool many people. It might even seem to be making rational decisions, but it would only be carrying out what it was told to do by the person who wrote the software. What I am saying is the life we think we see, would really be the life of the programmer whose decisions it is carrying out.
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