Memristor
I'm more than a little stoked about the announcement of a "memristor," but I doubt if most readers will be similarly impressed. A memristor is an electronic device that was first theorized in 1971 and discovered (or invented, depending on one's perspective) by HP Labs just a few weeks ago.
When I went to electronics school — a few decades ago — there were only three passive electrical devices: resistors, capacitors, and inductors. Now we can add memristors to the list. My mind is spinning with the ramifications. As of today, Google has 126,000 references to memristors; I am sure that number will balloon in the future.
To put it into a more common perspective, this announcement might be akin to someone discovering that matter can exist in a fourth state, in additional to the traditional solid, liquid, or gas — or to contemplate the implications that time is the fourth dimension, after length, width, and height.
The hoped for applications of memristors are numerous, including small-scale flash memory, artificial neural networks, and a means to counter heat generation and power consumption issues in ever-shrinking electronic circuitry.
But I must stop my enthused exudation before you dismiss me as a total geek.
When I went to electronics school — a few decades ago — there were only three passive electrical devices: resistors, capacitors, and inductors. Now we can add memristors to the list. My mind is spinning with the ramifications. As of today, Google has 126,000 references to memristors; I am sure that number will balloon in the future.
To put it into a more common perspective, this announcement might be akin to someone discovering that matter can exist in a fourth state, in additional to the traditional solid, liquid, or gas — or to contemplate the implications that time is the fourth dimension, after length, width, and height.
The hoped for applications of memristors are numerous, including small-scale flash memory, artificial neural networks, and a means to counter heat generation and power consumption issues in ever-shrinking electronic circuitry.
But I must stop my enthused exudation before you dismiss me as a total geek.
Posted by Peter DeHaan at 5/15/2008 3:33 PM 
Categories: Technology, Computers, future
Tags: Google memristor Peter DeHaan blog author Peter DeHaan Peter DeHaan Musings Musings of Peter DeHaan
Categories: Technology, Computers, future
Tags: Google memristor Peter DeHaan blog author Peter DeHaan Peter DeHaan Musings Musings of Peter DeHaan
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