Technology is getting exponentially smaller, faster and more powerful, but is there some kind of limit to this? Moore's Law basically said that technology will get half the size* and twice as powerful every year or so, but most people these days think that's probably a load of dingo's kidneys and that it's probably a lot more complicated than that. However, many seem to agree that there's got to be some kind of upper limit on computing power. Advances in quantum computing may be taking us down a new, unexpected route and the advent of graphene superconductors is tipped to bring supercomputers to the masses, but some computer scientists appear to have hit some limitations of computing already in finding that there are some algorithms that are mathematically impossible to improve. Are there other ways to make computers? Are we going to have to hack our own brains to access its astonishing computing power? There is even a theory, known as the Transcension Hypothesis, that there will come a point where our technology becomes so small and advanced that it will actually allow us to leave the universe entirely. *It should be noted that Moore didn't expect everyone to be working with miniscule computers in the future, just that we could fit increasingly "more" computer into the same space. Want to write for What Culture Science? Click here to find out how you could get paid to write about what you love.Love all things science? Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for your next fix.
