Have you ever wondered where computers are headed on the personal level? I have given this topic much thought. One can not help but notice that there are certain trends that have been established that show no signs of abating. One of these trends, in layman's terms, is the race toward smaller parts. The central brain of the computer is called the CPU or Central Processing Unit. These CPUs just keep shrinking in size and getting more powerful. They are composed of tiny transistors etched into silicon. Silicon is the most common element on this planet Metals are also used inside the CPU to conduct electricity . In the CPUs manufacture different chemicals and gases are used. As the CPUs get faster they usually generate more heat because more voltage is required to run them. Because of this there are comparatively large fans and heatsinks* that must be put on top of the CPU to cool it. There are even more exotic liquid cooling systems on the market, but as the chips shrink they require less voltage and if they get small enough may not require any cooling at all. Up until recently the trend was to keep increasing the speed of the CPU and this was followed by Intel, the largest producer of CPUs or computer chips in the world. A competitor AMD, Advanced Micro Devices approached the problem of more powerful chips from a different way and the result were that some of the AMD chips, which were slower in running speed, called clock speed, actually were faster in running computer applications.

There is something called Moore's Law that states that every couple of years the amount of transistors in the computer chips will double. This brings us to the second trend. Computers just keep getting more powerful. Will these devices ever get smarter than the people that build them? Not in the near future. The human brain is so complex that even with Moore's Law proceeding at full speed, we have at least a hundred years or more before computers can out think us. They can however perform tasks much faster than we can and are perfect for such tasks as mass calculations. They are also very good at controlling devices and therefore make great devices such as digital cameras. Yes your digital camera is a computer. Even your car is being controlled by a computer, as I am sure you already know. Planes will soon be controlled by a computer device that will project invisible lanes in the sky and keep the plane in the correct one. Is all this computing power a good thing or are we just inviting a Skynet** I am afraid that only time will supply the answer to this question, but so far it seems that computers have helped man and their hasn't been any HALs*** yet. In the field of medicine the computer has been a tremendous aid to doctors. Its talents range from analyzing to performing surgery. Plans are being made to create a medical database that will seem almost human and be able to diagnose a patient's problems. Prototype machines are already visiting patients in their hospital rooms. The machines are capable of motion and can travel from room to room and it is said that most of the patient's enjoy the visit and find the machines quite amiable.

Another question that comes to mind is as computers become more powerful will they ever become self aware? Self aware doesn't mean making a mistake in programming instructions, it means the computer actually thinks about what it is about to do and makes a decision whether or not to do it and is aware of its own presence as a life force. If this ever comes to pass, man will have created life. Can man as an imperfect being create perfect life? Probably not, and therein lies the problem. Imperfect computer life may be a danger to imperfect human life. This may occur in ways that we have yet to imagine. A machine, in this case a computer, may decide that the perfect temperature for the Earth is 80 degrees fahrenheit causing the melting of the polar caps and flooding of the earth. This is a way out example but it was used to illustrate what could happen. Sometimes even man, in an effort to better himself has hurt himself. One has only to look at Chernobyl in Russia. In an effort to supply cheap electricity and better the lives of the Russians living in the area the Chernobly reactors were built. Now there is a waste land for many miles around the plant and it will have to stay that way for many years and the reactor is still a danger as its cement shroud is leaking.

The third trend is that computers are getting cheaper as are many of their peripherals. When computers for the home first came out for home use, I am talking about full function computers not the Sinclair or Timex 1000, they cost way more than the cheap computers do today. A computer can be purchased at Walmart for $298.00. In 1985 an Amiga 1000 computer cost about $1100.00, the Atari St was about $1000 and the 1984 Apple Macintosh for $2495.00. In 1986 Intel introduces the 80386 processor and it sells for $300.00 all you need is to build a computer around it. Notice we are talking about 1984 and 1985 dollars here. It takes $170.99 today to purchase $100.00 item in 1985. This means that the computer that Walmart is selling for $298 would have only cost $174.28 in 1985.

So there we have it, computers are getting smaller, faster and cheaper. Hardly earth shattering news, but news that will effect the lives of every man, woman and child on this planet.

*A metal device that works to dissipate heat by conducting it away from the CPU.
**Skynet was the fictitious computer array that took over the world and tried to destroy all human life in the Terminator movie series.
***HAL was the fictitious computer that tried to kill the humans onboard a space ship in 2001 A Space Odessy.