What will computers look like in a hundred years from now? We all know what a computer is now, it is basically a box filled with electronics such as a mother board, central processing unit, hard drive, and maybe a video card, audio card, CD and or DVD players and or burners, modem and several other devices. It might also have other devices attached to it externally such as a monitor, printer, hubs of various types, scanner and other devices. That is more or less the computer of today. As most of us know by now, computer chips are shrinking with every new chip. The cpus (Central Processing Units, the hearst of the computer), are getting more and more powerful. There was a man, Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel that observed that the number of transistors per square inch of silicone doubles about every 18 months. Some say he said every year and others say he said every couple of years. This is called Moore's law and has held true since 1965 when Moore first said it. Remember this doubling is the doubling of the present state. At this rate computers could reach a level of intelligence with humans before the next hundred years.

CPU
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Lets start by saying we can not use history to judge the progress of computers. The problem lies in the fact we are advancing so rapidly from one year to the next that we have no way of doing meaningful comparisons. And this is not only in the field of computers but in many other areas as well. So how can we conceive of what a future computer in the year 2104 would look like. We can only guess but we can try and use intelligent guess work based on some of the current trends in this field.

One trend seems to be trying to put chips in the human body. Right now this is limited to trying to help the blind and victims of nerve damage. Chips will eventually be used to restore a type of vision to the blind and maybe restore the power to move to those that are paralyzed. Recently there has been talk of someday implanting chips in the brain. The theory goes on to state that these chips would contain all the knowledge that a human would need. There would be no necessity to go to school, because the knowledge would be on the chip and would just have to be accessed. This is not a big hit with some people who claim that the rich will be able to get the chips for their children that contain the knowledge to be a doctor or other professional person while the poor will only get the basics and therefore be relegated to menial jobs. This is a true danger.

Another trend is nanotechnology. So far this seem to have been limited to creating miniature machines but may be tied into the computer in some way. Lets say, for example, that someday we all have some of these nanites in our body. The computer chip embedded in us detects a slight rise in temperature in a certain area of our body due to an infection. It then proceeds to send the nanites there to eliminate the infection causing germs. These same nanites might be directed by the computer chip to repair damage such as broken bones or cut skin. Maybe in a hundred years or so we will be invulnerable to disease because of this setup.

Storage devices are also shrinking. Assume that we might have one that is so small, it is the size of the cpu. This could also be implanted allowing for unlimited photographic memory with instant recall. Maybe you could even print out pictures from memory like photographs. But how would this be accomplished? It might be that humans, a hundred years from now, will all have a link put into their bodies so that all this info can be accessed or it might be wireless and broadcast on a very special frequency so as not to interfere with the body or any other signals in the air. This presents a privacy issue, however. It seems that the human of the future will not have anywhere the amount of privacy that we enjoy now. As the use of computers increases we all leave more and more info everywhere we go. There are more identity thefts now than there ever has been. This will be an issue that will have to be dealt with and soon.

Clothing is becoming more computer friendly. There are now some suits that contain sensors that can feed information directly to a computer. This information may be able to be used in the future to either heat or cool the clothing making it more comfortable to wear and eliminating the necessity of heavy clothing in the winter. Imagine being able to walk the streets of Miami in the middle of the summer and being as cool as a cucumber.

Artificial sensing devices that act like noses and other organs are being developed. If the computer of the future is tied into these, assuming it is implanted into us, it may be able to enhance our senses. The US Army is working on an exoskeleton type suit that would increase the strength of the individual soldier. If an advanced version of this could be built into everyday clothing, tand he person had a sensor enhanced device then they would be super human. We would have a race of supermen and superwomen walking around. Mmaybe only law enforcement would be allowed to have this device, it would give them quite an advantage in crime fighting.

So my guess is that the computer of 100 years from now will be very tiny and built into the human body or placed somewhere on it that is convenient and that it will have a link to the brain somehow. It will control our health, be able to broadcast and maybe even be able to send our brainwaves to others without audio, allowing for non verbal communication. It will control our comfort using the clothes we wear and may be capable of doing many other things like driving a automobile to its destination without physical intervention. It will also make education obsolete but this might effect initiative.