I would like to ask whether it is getting more common in scientific conferences about electronics and semiconductor not only to consider Moore's law, not only to say that we are in the More-Than-Moore time, but also to think whether it is rather a "Nothing-More" time.
I was at one of these conferences today. As always, at least in half of the talks the Moore's law is mentioned, which can be summarized as: every few years the size of the chips will get smaller by half. Some speakers also mention the "More-Than-Moore" idea, where the chips not only get tinier, but can do more stuff. They basically consists not only of electronic circuits but also of integrated sensors which allow to measure and take care of more and more stuff. The integration of all possible types of different devices on the chips is resenting a technical challenge which becomes more similar to the proud of entering in the Guinness Book of World Records than in an actual technological innovation - at least in the opinion of some people. The same people start to wonder, do we really need all this? Would it not be better to be in the "Nothing-More" time, where nothing more is added to the already busy and tiny chips?
One speaker today said, in East Germany during the communist time, the book "1984" by G. Orwell was prohibited, not difficult to imagine why. People got used to not share their opinions for not getting in trouble. Now, people are constantly invited to share what they think, do, read, plan on a variety of social networks where everyone can read and comment about, and use the information for whatever purpose. And that took just 20 years.
It is not about a political judgement. It is just a comparison between two opposite worlds.
Do we need More-Than-More-Than-Moore?
I was at one of these conferences today. As always, at least in half of the talks the Moore's law is mentioned, which can be summarized as: every few years the size of the chips will get smaller by half. Some speakers also mention the "More-Than-Moore" idea, where the chips not only get tinier, but can do more stuff. They basically consists not only of electronic circuits but also of integrated sensors which allow to measure and take care of more and more stuff. The integration of all possible types of different devices on the chips is resenting a technical challenge which becomes more similar to the proud of entering in the Guinness Book of World Records than in an actual technological innovation - at least in the opinion of some people. The same people start to wonder, do we really need all this? Would it not be better to be in the "Nothing-More" time, where nothing more is added to the already busy and tiny chips?
One speaker today said, in East Germany during the communist time, the book "1984" by G. Orwell was prohibited, not difficult to imagine why. People got used to not share their opinions for not getting in trouble. Now, people are constantly invited to share what they think, do, read, plan on a variety of social networks where everyone can read and comment about, and use the information for whatever purpose. And that took just 20 years.
It is not about a political judgement. It is just a comparison between two opposite worlds.
Do we need More-Than-More-Than-Moore?
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