Digital People: From Bionic Humans to Androids

Product Description
Robots, androids, and bionic people pervade popular culture, from classics like Frankenstein and R.U.R. to modern tales such as The Six Million Dollar Man, The Terminator, and A.I. Our fascination is obvious – and the technology is quickly moving from books and films to real life.

In a lab at MIT, scientists and technicians have created an artificial being named COG. To watch COG interact with the environment – to recognize that this machine has actual body language – is to experience a hair-raising, gut-level reaction. Because just as we connect to artificial people in fiction, the merest hint of human-like action or appearance invariably engages us.

Digital People examines the ways in which technology is inexorably driving us to a new and different level of humanity. As scientists draw on nanotechnology, molecular biology, artificial intelligence, and materials science, they are learning how to create beings that move, think, and look like people. Others are routinely using sophisticated surgical techniques to implant computer chips and drug-dispensing devices into our bodies, designing fully functional man-made body parts, and linking human brains with computers to make people healthier, smarter, and stronger.

In short, we are going beyond what was once only science fiction to create bionic people with fully integrated artificial components – and it will not be long before we reach the ultimate goal of constructing a completely synthetic human-like being.

It seems quintessentially human to look beyond our natural limitations. Science has long been the lens through which we squint to discern our future. Although we are rightfully fearful about manipulating the boundaries between animate and inanimate, the benefits are too great to ignore. This thoughtful and provocative book shows us just where technology is taking us, in directions both wonderful and terrible, to ponder what it means to be human.

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Computers May Be Slowing Down

In 1965 Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel, wrote a paper that made the observation that computers will double in speed every two years. This maxim, now called Moore’s Law, has held true for decades. It would appear now however that within the next ten years Moore’s Law may no longer be valid.

Moore’s Law specifically refers to the number of transistors that can be placed on a computer chip, and how that number could easily be doubled by manufacturers every two years. Manufactures have readily met the requirements of this law since its inception, and as of 2008 the transistors that are applied to computer chips will be so small that over 3.9 million of them would fit on the head of a pin.

Gordon Moore now says that by 2020 the laws of physics will catch up to computer chip manufacturers and Moore’s Law will no longer be a valid measuring tool. Mr. Moore revealed this information while speaking about the new Intel chip being marketed as the Penryn Processor. This new chip will not be widely available till 2009, and its circuitry is 45 nanometers wide (1 billionth of a meter wide) and contains over 800 million transistors.

The fact that Moore’s Law specifically refers to number of transistors and not computing speed has now become important. The two have been used interchangeably for decades, but it would seem that can no longer be the case. Many experts believe that although the laws of physics will break down Moore’s Law, computing speed will continue to increase at the same rate or possible even faster. This will be done through alternative methods of chip manufacturing. One type of alternative manufacturing is called nanotechnology which would focus on putting chips together a single molecule at a time. Jim Tully at Gartner group said, “You might refer to this new breed of chips as ‘molecular devices’”. Science fiction may become science fact over the next decade as these molecular devices are even now in development.

While faster chips are a concern for the manufactures, utilizing this speed is the concern of the end user. Chips that contain billions of transistors are irrelevant if the software the computer is running cannot take advantage of the speed. This has been the case with Windows XP of late, and one of the reasons Microsoft released Vista. The new software is designed to take better advantage of newer and faster chips as well as higher degrees of computer memory. “Although the Vista 32 bit version only uses up to 4 gig of RAM (same as XP), the Vista 64 bit version can support 128 gig of RAM or more”, says Dan Crawford, former Microsoft employee and software enthusiast. There are no PCs currently capable of actually accepting 128 gig of RAM so this issue should be moot for a long time.

Once software producers catch up to the chips available even now, the speed in which users enjoy on there computers will be greatly increased. Chip speed is still an important concern, but perhaps not more so than the ability to actually utilize that speed on a regular basis.

Ibm [Nyse: Ibm] Breaks World Record For Solar Efficiency

Solar cells that do not have the expensive elements mentioned usually have an efficiency that doesn’t surpass 6.7 percent. Other than bein g more efficient, the new IBM solar cell is also cheaper in terms of printing costs, slit casting, and dip and spray coating because it uses a mix of solution and nanoparticle-based method in place of the old vacuum method. IBM lead researcher Dr. David Mitzi said that IBM is close to developing solar technology that is cost-effective while at the same time has the capacity to deploy at terawatt level. IBM scientists use a large lens for concentrating the sun’s power – a technology known as concentrator photovoltaics or CPV– to convert sunlight into 70 watts of electricity. IBM’s output is said to be five times the electrical power density produced by other solar farms using CPV technology. In 2008, IBM developed the concentrating photovoltaic technology with the aim to reduce the cost of producing solar energy by using less photovoltaic cells in a solar farm and concentrating more light onto each cell using larger lenses. IBM’s strategy comes from its capacity to cool the tiny solar cell and to concentrate the equivalent of 2000 suns on a small area for melting stainless steel. IBM also uses its technology for cooling computer chips which had enabled solar cells to cool from greater than 1600 degrees Celsius to just 85 degrees Celsius. IBM has also developed a system that achieved breakthrough results by combining a commercial solar cell with an advanced IBM liquid metal thermal cooling system using microprocessor industry methods. The melted liquid metal –called thermal interface layer– is applied between the chip and the cooling block so that heat may be transferred and chip temperature may be kept low. The technology, which was developed by IBM originally to cool high power computer chips, gives an excellent thermal performance at a low cost. CPV technology has the capacity to provide the lowest-cost solar electricity for large-scale power generation, as long as the temperature of the cells are kept low and cost-effective optics can be developed for concentrating the light to high levels. Aside from photovoltaic research, IBM is also involved in energy efficient technology and services, advanced water management, carbon management, intelligent transportation systems and intelligent utility systems. IBM Research lead photovoltaics scientist Dr. Supratik Guha said that he believes IBM can supply knowledge from their extensive experience in semiconductors and nanotechnology to the field of alternative energy research.

Nanites and Self Evolution

Imagine having the ability to rewrite your own DNA by thinking or change the chemical structure and shape of your body at will…

Nanotechnology is still very new and not very useful, yet it’s applications in medicine and engineering are nearly boundless. They can target and destroy a cancer or viruses without surgery, radiation or harmful medicines. They can also build new nanites and other useful structures on the same scale. Potential applications might be making the next generation of computer chips or maintaining youth.

Nanites ould require a very sophisticated program similar to A.I. in order to coordinate millions of them. This type of program is based on Boolean logic and any complete human language written into the program. The basic concept is that humans use language to reason and a computer with a complete understanding of human reasoning can think and learn like any human.

Nanites serve two purposes: self replication and a useful function. Each nanite can contain a small processor and memory and coordinate actions and processing with the other nanites.

Students at Stanford found a way to link neurons from the brain with a computer. Imagine how fast you could solve math problems if you could access a super computer just by thinking about it. You could also store any of your memories with all your senses and recall them is perfect detail at any time. This is the same neural bridge that could be used to direct nanites inside or ouside your body. It could also be used to communicate significantly faster with other humans.

You could also change or enhance any part of your body at will. This includes things like removing all toxins, bacteria, viruses and scar tissue. You could even enhance or repair your eye sight or hearing. Disabilities and damage could be repaired at will, and you could change the structure or materials in your body to adapt to unique environments like space or deep in the ocean.

I know this one is a bit scifi, but the technology will get there eventually.

Semiconductors for Micro- and Nanotechnology: An Introduction for Engineers

Product Description
Semiconductors play a major role in modern microtechnology, especially in microelectronics. Since the dimensions of new microelectronic components, e.g. computer chips, now reach nanometer size, semiconductor research moves from microtechnology to nanotechnology.
An understanding of the semiconductor physics involved in this new technology is of great importance for every student in engineering, especially electrical engineering, microsystem technology and physics.
This textbook emphasizes a system-oriented view of semiconductor physics for applications in microsystem technology. While existing books only cover electronic device physics and are mainly written for physics students, this text gives a more hands-on approach to semiconductor physics and so avoids overloading engineering students with mathematical formulas not essential for their studies.

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