Finite possibilites

[_nox_]

Greetings

Actually - electronical engineering is badly limited, isn't it ?

Take each component and each /working/ connection between them + a non-infinite size of boards, non-infinite available energy, perfect functionality, superconducting wires.

Soon, all possible circuits are made and new development is fairly impossible Am I wrong ?


( Purely restricted on electronics ... what future physics will bring is another topic. )


Best Wishes,
Alexander

 

[HiTech]

I'm still trying to understand that "electronical engineering" thing you mention! BTW, what are you smoking and can I have some of it?

 

[dknguyen]

non-infinite = finite

Perfect functionality is very different from perfect performance. Do you see perfect performance anytime soon? Or super conducting circuits anytime in the near future?

Finite board size and energy is also misleading because they neglect to account for board and energy consumption. Who says things can't get smaller or more efficient?

The whole point of new developments is that you don't know what new developments are possible until you achieve them. Maybe you should register for some electronics research magazines, there is a lot of stuff going on. Like straining silicon to increase charge carrier mobilities or new semiconductor materials that are 20x faster and more efficient than silicon.

Look at math for example...you would think that they would have run out of stuff to do a long time ago. Just look at golf clubs for goodness sakes!

Remember that circuits can get very complex, which leaves lots of room for change and improvement.

 

[_nox_]

non-infinite = finite

yes i know - it was just to emphasize the "non-infinity".

Perfect functionality is very different from perfect performance. Do you see perfect performance anytime soon? Or super conducting circuits anytime in the near future?

No certainly not, but that's the best possible scenario. Zero resitance wires and almost perfect performance.

Finite board size and energy is also misleading because they neglect to account for board and energy consumption. Who says things can't get smaller or more efficient?

Sure they can, but this does not change the number of possible devices which can be built.

The whole point of new developments is that you don't know what new developments are possible until you achieve them. Maybe you should register for some electronics research magazines, there is a lot of stuff going on. Like straining silicon to increase charge carrier mobilities or new semiconductor materials that are 20x faster and more efficient than silicon.

The latest development is a 1nm size molecular transistor... which is damn small in comparison to contemporary standard technology.

Remember that circuits can get very complex, which leaves lots of room for change and improvement.

Yes but electrical circuits are limited - in the near future, all devices based on electronical components will be known...

 

[dknguyen]

Electronical is not a word. Electronic is an adjective. Electronics is a noun. Weird huh?

Best possible scenario is zero resistance and perfect performance- of course. It's easy to say perfect- it is much harder and takes much longer to achieve it. It's just silly really, naive even- to assume that everything about something can ever be known. We've been cooking for much longer than we have been building circuits and no one would say all recipes are known...not in the near future...not ever- recipes being much less complicated than circuits.

Would you agree with people when they used to say physics was a field coming to a close- the only unanswered question left being "action at a distance"?

By your definition mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, even math is limited, every other field of science is limited. How can you say electrical engineering is badly limited without saying these fields are too? THe number of elements are limited. The number of chemical compounds and alloys are limited. There can only be so many different types of mechanical devices. You might as well say that there's only so much you can do with the laws of physics, so eventually everything that there is to know will be known and that everything that can be done will be done.

Also, this is real life. There is no clear cut line between where electronics, electrical, physics, chemistry, or biology. There isn't even a line between what is dead or alive. (Or recently, what's a planet and what's not.)

 

[Hero999]

There isn't even a line between what is dead or alive.

I wouln't agree witth that, DNA and reproduction clearly draws the line between living and non-living.

 

[dknguyen]

Whether or not a virus is alive is a matter of opinion right now, since it is essentially pure DNA. If I have a bucket of pure DNA, is it living or non-living? A virus is pretty much the same thing.

Like if we had completely sentient AI, and it was able to "reproduce" by using machines to make more copies of itself, would it be alive even if it was able to reproduce, function, but had no DNA? It kind of gets philosophical. Even crystal will grow in a proper environment. Reproduction may be necessary criteria (at least around here, but what would if there was something that could just live forever and didn't need to reproduce? I'm not sure if an inactive virus counts as living forever), but I am not sure if DNA is sufficient criteria. A virus can do absolutely nothing on it's own- it can't metabolize or reproduce. But then again this happens to all organisms under extreme conditions. So this begs the question, just how strict must the environmental conditions be for an DNA-possessing entity to be able to function before it is considered non-living?

Too philosophical for me. To hell with arbitrary classification and on with application!

 

[bigkim100]

Ill just be happy if Technology can make a Tv that will last longer than a few years, a computer that isnt out of date a few months after its purchased, a double A battery that will last in my kids CD player longer than a couple of days, and a woman that doesnt bite my head off every 20 some odd days.
Until these things happen...Tecnology still has a way to go.

 

[Optikon]

Greetings

Actually - electronical engineering is badly limited, isn't it ?

Take each component and each /working/ connection between them + a non-infinite size of boards, non-infinite available energy, perfect functionality, superconducting wires.

Soon, all possible circuits are made and new development is fairly impossible Am I wrong ?


( Purely restricted on electronics ... what future physics will bring is another topic. )


Best Wishes,
Alexander

heh, might be true in the very distant future as long as physics & math stop developing today.

In any scenario, I'll be long gone when that day comes so it won't keep me awake at night.

 

[HiTech]

Ill just be happy if Technology can make a Tv that will last longer than a few years, a computer that isnt out of date a few months after its purchased, a double A battery that will last in my kids CD player longer than a couple of days, and a woman that doesnt bite my head off every 20 some odd days.
Until these things happen...Tecnology still has a way to go.

All of those are very doable. 2500ma batteries last more than 2 days under avg. use. Sony, Mitsubishi are two television brands that survive a long time. As for computers, don't get caught up in the technology race or you'll never be satisfied with the one you have. Now, that last request requires divine intervention since He was the one who created her in the first place.

 

[fingers]

Soon, all possible circuits are made and new development is fairly impossible Am I wrong ?

Its not gonna happen, is it!?
In comparison, Music is at a much greater risk of drying up, having just 7 notes (+ sharps & flats) and it hasn't happened. So why would electronics?

 

[_nox_]

In comparison, Music is at a much greater risk of drying up, having just 7 notes (+ sharps & flats) and it hasn't happened. So why would electronics?

No - Music is much more complicated than this. Read a bit about it...

But let's *assume* that only 7 components exist... then 5040 different arragements are possible - And not all of them sound good. The same with electronics.

 

[dknguyen]

No - Music is much more complicated than this. Read a bit about it...

Just as electronics is also much more complicated than you are making it seem. How many ways can you build a car before all possible designs are built? How about cities? A single processor is much more complicated than those. Every field is limited when thinking the way you do.

Just think about wheels. You'd think we would have run out of the different kinds of wheels to make by now.

 

[_nox_]

Just as electronics is also much more complicated than you are making it seem. How many ways can you build a car before all possible designs are built? How about cities? A single processor is much more complicated than those. Every field is limited when thinking the way you do.

Just think about wheels. You'd think we would have run out of the different kinds of wheels to make by now.

Of course, electronics has a much higher complexity - But nevertheless, it's not infinite ( nothing is - by the way )

 

[fingers]

Actually - electronical engineering is badly limited, isn't it ?

Of course, electronics has a much higher complexity

So you start off saying Electronics is badly limited. Now you say its much more complex than our examples. Some of which have been around for hundreds of years...

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

it's not infinite ( nothing is - by the way )

How about infinity?

And if the universe isn't infinite, what happens where it ends?

 

[JimB]

How about infinity?

And if the universe isn't infinite, what happens where it ends?

Then there is Milliways, the restaurant at the end of the universe of course.

JimB

 

[HiTech]

I always thought the rest stop at the end of the universe was called The Little Ale'Inn.

**broken link removed** **broken link removed**

**broken link removed**

 

[JimB]

Milliways is the restaurant at the end of the universe in the book/TV prog/film(?) The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

JimB

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Milliways is the restaurant at the end of the universe in the book/TV prog/film(?) The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

You missed out 'radio series', where it first made it 'big', and resulted in the TV series.