RE: starship-design: unmanned missions

[David Levine <david@actionworld.com>]

Heh, the PC you are sending e-mail with might possibly be the more
powerful of the two in that comparison.  But that's a quibble.

The real question is that when you look at something like Moore's Law,
can you count on it indefinately?  Just because a trend has happened up
to a certain point doesn't mean it will happen forever - there can be
real limits to the design of a chip - the speed of light being one
off-hand...
------------------------------------------------------
David Levine                     david@actionworld.com
Director of Development    http://www.actionworld.com/
ActionWorld, Inc.                       (212) 387-8200
Professional Driver.  Closed Track.  Do not attempt.

> From: 	A West[SMTP:andrew@hmm.u-net.com]
> Subject: 	Re: starship-design: unmanned missions
> 
> "the capacity of a computer chip will double every year" Gordon Moore
> 1965
> 
> Since then, every year to 18 months, computer power has doubled.
> If this trend continues, we will unimaginably powerful computers in 50
> years time - maybe like comparing the on-board computers in the space
> shuttle to the PC I am sending this mail with....
> Never underestimate the potential computers have - soon they will
> reach the
> sort of speeds you might need to write a program that can improvise
> and be
> creative....
> 
> Andrew West
>