
By 2040, computers will need more electricity than the world can generate - ghosh
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/07/25/semiconductor_industry_association_international_technology_roadmap_for_semiconductors/?mt=1469441767043
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eternalban
Reversible computing[1][2]. & I most highly recommend this fantastic lecture
on the Physics of
Computing:[https://youtu.be/OEzuZ6BpC-g](https://youtu.be/OEzuZ6BpC-g)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversible_computing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversible_computing)

[https://youtu.be/qPgveUgK8P4](https://youtu.be/qPgveUgK8P4)

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danmaz74
I always find it funny when projections decades into the future show straight
lines. Even more so when the scale is logarithmic.

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yaantc
I agree with the general sentiment, but their point here (as I understand it)
is to show that the current trend cannot continue like this. The source paper
has a poor choice of word in an appendix, saying "when the energy required for
computing will exceed the estimated world’s energy production" with "will"
instead of "would", but it's clear from the text they don't believe this. The
next sentence is: "Thus, radical improvement in the energy efficiency of
computing is needed".

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traverseda
>Thus, radical improvement in the energy efficiency of computing is needed

Isn't that what all these new arm boards are?

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jakozaur
In 1894, the Times of London estimated that by 1950 every street in the city
would be buried nine feet deep in horse manure.

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dharma1
A human brain runs on 20W. I think we have a lot of work ahead of us

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jlmendezbonini
>So a typical adult human brain runs on around 12 watts

[http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/thinking-hard-
calo...](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/thinking-hard-calories/)

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samjohnson
Why is the world's energy production a constant value from 2010 to 2040?
Surely we produce more energy today than we did 30 years ago. Is this just a
chart scale issue?

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IshKebab
It's not constant, and the scale is logarithmic.

That said I think this prediction is really insane and goes against common
sense.

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hexomancer
What?! A constant in logarithmic scale is still a constant.

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coldtea
Parent said IT's NOT constant.

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kahrkunne
We'd probably increase power production before that point, methinks

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_nalply
Or reduce power consumption.

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coldtea
Or reduce computers...

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jventura
Or reduce the production since the market can be saturated by then...

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nhebb
The Joules/year on the graph is a flat line from now to 2040. It ought to read
"does generate" instead of "can generate'.

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JosephRedfern
It isn't a flat line:
[http://i.imgur.com/oTUC2Nf.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/oTUC2Nf.jpg). The black
bar I added is flat.

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nhebb
Fair enough, but that's still "projected to generate" not "can generate".

