Well, there’s also another quote worth quoting, and in fact the quote that is in my Mnemosyne database and which enabled me to look that thesis up so fast...
“In practice replacing digital computers with an alternative computing paradigm is a risky proposition.
Alternative computing architectures, such as parallel digital computers have not tended to be commercially viable, because Moore’s Law has consistently enabled conventional von Neumann architectures to render alternatives unnecessary.
Besides Moore’s Law, digital computing also benefits from mature tools and expertise for optimizing performance at all levels of the system: process technology, fundamental circuits, layout and algorithms.
Many engineers are simultaneously working to improve every aspect of digital technology, while alternative technologies like analog computing do not have the same kind of industry juggernaut pushing them forward.”
This is true in general but this particular statement appears out of date:
’Alternative computing architectures, such as parallel digital computers have not tended to be commercially viable”
That was true perhaps circa 2000, but we hit a speed/heat wall and since then everything has been going parallel.
You may see something similar happen eventually with analog computing once the market for statistical inference computation is large enough and or we approach other constraints similar to the speed/heat wall.
Well, there’s also another quote worth quoting, and in fact the quote that is in my Mnemosyne database and which enabled me to look that thesis up so fast...
This is true in general but this particular statement appears out of date:
’Alternative computing architectures, such as parallel digital computers have not tended to be commercially viable”
That was true perhaps circa 2000, but we hit a speed/heat wall and since then everything has been going parallel.
You may see something similar happen eventually with analog computing once the market for statistical inference computation is large enough and or we approach other constraints similar to the speed/heat wall.