What I want to know is how is this all possible now, and not say ten years ago? Where did this all come from? Did a UFO crash and give us access to advance tech?
I've been a webmaster since 2003, my first domain at the age of 13. Paying a web-host with my parents given pocket money. All we had was forums at best, maybe neopets. Python existed, PHP too, file extensions ending in php3. C, C++ have all existed since forever and which I touched up at college.
I do recall the days when servers were used for single purposes and you had each for each. But now we live in the enriched world of Virtual Machines, Cloud Computing and all the rest. And today I struggle to understand where did it all come from? Why wasn't this achievable then, was it purely processor power?
Sorry if this sounds rudimentary, I never did computer science at university only network-management & design. A choice I regret to date.
Also not an expert, but from what I can tell, the difference is, as you say, processing power. But also the instant accessibility of huge gobs of data which can be used to train the models on which these ML systems rely.
So it's a perfect storm of personal computing power which anyone can pick up for almost pennies, and an Internet which gives access to data. Put the two together at enough scale and you've got magic.
The real kicker though, the one that changes everything, is the introduction of open source. By moving it all outside the walled gardens, suddenly anyone on the planet with a PC and a bit of skill can start tinkering with this stuff to do 'what ifs' and launch new concepts.
Processing power is probably the main factor here, but I feel like another significant factor is that there is more information available to more people with a greater number of ideas all able to work together/share these ideas with greater speed. As more eyes landed on the topic, it started becoming less of a scifi/cyberpunk hypothetical and more something that legitimate educational orgs developed masters' degrees for.
I've been a webmaster since 2003, my first domain at the age of 13. Paying a web-host with my parents given pocket money. All we had was forums at best, maybe neopets. Python existed, PHP too, file extensions ending in php3. C, C++ have all existed since forever and which I touched up at college.
I do recall the days when servers were used for single purposes and you had each for each. But now we live in the enriched world of Virtual Machines, Cloud Computing and all the rest. And today I struggle to understand where did it all come from? Why wasn't this achievable then, was it purely processor power?
Sorry if this sounds rudimentary, I never did computer science at university only network-management & design. A choice I regret to date.