Light Based Data Transfer on the Horizon???

[Virgorising]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/...of-light_n_6147600.html?utm_hp_ref=technology

 

[Virgorising]

Seriously? Nobody else here finds this exciting?

 

[SKORPI0]

Seriously? Nobody else here finds this exciting?

:biggrin:

 

[Virgorising]

:biggrin:

Excellent! Where do I get a heatsink/cooler for that?

 

[mfenn]

The bits that you used to make this post and the bits used by everyone reading it were most likely converted between electricity and light several dozen times on their journey to and from the forum server. Light based data transfer just isn't that novel.

 

[Ken g6]

Meh, wake me up when they've got Light Based Data Transfer Over the Horizon.

It's light-based data transfer within a CPU, so that's somewhat novel. I've been expecting it for about 10 years.

Researchers say the new light-based system could be used in computers within 10 years, though it's not clear when it'll be available to consumers.

Yep, looks about right.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Seriously? Nobody else here finds this exciting?

If they actually bring it to commercial application then I'll get excited. Scientists in search of grant moneys and deep pockets have been promising this for a long time now.

 

[JackMDS]

Yeah, imagine all of the Nonsensical Nonfunctional use of the Internet by the general crowd at the Speed of Light.

On more serious note, One have to learn how to read scientific info as Drama Queened by Main stream media.

In 1965 I worked in a known University Physical Chemistry Lab as an assistant to some of the initial research done in the generation of Ruby Laser Beams. Most of what we did never translated into commercial product some did 25 years later.


In late 1970 into mid 1980 I was part of a team that pioneered clinical work in Head Trauma and PTSD. Only these days (almost 30 years later) it starts to be of real use.

 

[Virgorising]

The bits that you used to make this post and the bits used by everyone reading it were most likely converted between electricity and light several dozen times on their journey to and from the forum server. Light based data transfer just isn't that novel.

I will be, BIGTIME if it replaces the current reality of CPUs inside our computers!!!! that's the whole nucleus of the excietment....forget it may take ten years until they can evolve and get this right.

 

[Virgorising]

It's light-based data transfer within a CPU, so that's somewhat novel. I've been expecting it for about 10 years.

Jeeze.... sour grapes=painful....."somewhat novel".....which is why it will take at least a decade before they work this out.

It's genius.....unleash and celebrate...nuthin will break, and nobody will think, U R uncool.

 

[Virgorising]

If they actually bring it to commercial application then I'll get excited. Scientists in search of grant moneys and deep pockets have been promising this for a long time now.

I am now going to link this thread to my world famous genius friend....his take will be the definitive one.

 

[Essence_of_War]

I don't understand why you have to get snappy at people when they aren't as excited by something as you are. Cautious optimism, or even cynicsm, at reports of scientific results as reported by a largely science-illiterate media is not an outrageous reaction.

 

[Virgorising]

I don't understand why you have to get snappy at people when they aren't as excited by something as you are. Cautious optimism, or even cynicsm, at reports of scientific results as reported by a largely science-illiterate media is not an outrageous reaction.

Not SNAPPY: NORMAL. Herein, we find a heady, important discussion. We are now chasing objective data in perspective.. Do I find luminous cause for excitment for all of us based on my take on this? U bet.

I also pick up some self protective cynicism in others sometimes....and that makes my tummy hurt. From my personal experience, that's sometimes enculturated in guys form early on....and, I find it tragic and a big deprivation.

I just linked my genius friend to this thread....said I would post his response when it arrived.:biggrin:

 

[Virgorising]

K....I luv my friend!!! Took him one nano to respond to my mail, I am pasting.

``When you search for something on Google, the query travels the
Internet at a rate of hundreds of millions of miles per hour -- a
speed close to the speed of light. But the computer you searched on
can't work that fast, so the information actually has to slow down
when it reaches your machine.''

This sounds like a confusion. Signals mover at about two-thirds
the speed of light in optical fibers, which is important because the
world is 40,000 kilometers across. (According to the Web, signals
move a little faster in copper wires at about .9C.) The processor
chip in your computer is about ten millimeters square so signals
moving at reasonable fractions of the speed of light get across it
pretty quickly. (It does take long enough that chip designers pay
attention to the lengths of paths in laying out the chip.) Moore's
law is actually about the sizes of transistors and the speedup comes
from a variety of consequences of shrinking things.

The processors on the servers are very similar to the one in your
computer. (This is particularly true of Google whose search engine
--- last I knew about it which was five or so years ago --- was built
out of a million PCs.)

People have been trying to build optical computers for decades. I
think the real purpose is to save power but I think they also work
faster because photons have no rest mass and so they don't have
inertia the way electonrs do and you can move them around faster.

Best I can do; I'm not a chip designer.

 

[Virgorising]

So It struck me, and I said to my friend....mailed:

Strikes me suddenly that my broadband....I have the cheapest and my transfer speeds are still incredibly fast, tho not the 110 some people can pay for, and RCN now affords, my download speed is around 32 Mbps, fast enuff for me....RNC has cutting edge hard wiring....and so FIBEROPTIC technology....not all coaxial is that.

Can U comment on this re using light transfer in PCs?

And then, I delved and found this:

http://htcplus.net/fyi/fyi-fibervscoax.pdf

 

[Ken g6]

Signals mover at about two-thirds
the speed of light in optical fibers, which is important because the
world is 40,000 kilometers across. (According to the Web, signals
move a little faster in copper wires at about .9C.)

Huh. I thought those speeds would be reversed. That mostly explains why light isn't used to move signals right now, IMHO. Light can move faster through the air or in a vacuum, but then the connection has to be line-of-sight. (Literally!)

Regarding your broadband, the issue is different. On a chip low latency is paramount. You often need huge bandwidth too, but not always. For the Internet you need as much bandwidth as possible, but latency can be higher and necessarily is higher.

 

[Virgorising]

Huh. I thought those speeds would be reversed. That mostly explains why light isn't used to move signals right now, IMHO. Light can move faster through the air or in a vacuum, but then the connection has to be line-of-sight. (Literally!)

Regarding your broadband, the issue is different. On a chip low latency is paramount. You often need huge bandwidth too, but not always. For the Internet you need as much bandwidth as possible, but latency can be higher and necessarily is higher.

Great offering!!! But what I would have to pay for faster/greater bandwidth....I already pay a TON....I honestly do not need. I try to determine what I honestly NEED vs what I might like, including the numbers matched big block '67 Vette.()

Seems to me, not sure, if we could replace what we have with optical inside our computers, heat would no longer be an issue! Whole thermal design challenges would disappear! No more worries about cooling, heatsinks….forget water….I mean wouldn’t that be amazing?

And, logically, I would also think we could do very well with very low wattage PSUs!!!

And I....remain as excited conjuring the reality and I did when I first came upon the article.

 

[Virgorising]

My friend says no reason I should not post this. Been after him for running chrome given who he is; I did not understand it, esp given, I stopped long ago for the reasons I've shared.

[FONT=&quot]I run three browsers: Safari, Chrome, and Firefox for different
purposes to keep the cookies separated. (Yes. I delete cookies and a
lot of other things that are hidden away in the browsing process.) I
also use a Unix utility called wget which fetches webpages without
opening them. I use Chrome almost exclusively for Gmail. In the case
that brought this to your mind, my attempt to open the web address
that was in your mail from Safari failed; rather than take time to
debug it, I just clicked on the button in your message; that is what
resulted in advice to use Chrome.

I got started using Chrome because Vint Cerf pointed out that it
didn't have the bug Safari has of opening the attachment when you
download it if there is only one of them[/FONT]

 

[monkeydelmagico]

People have been trying to build optical computers for decades.

Pretty much what I said.

I also pick up some self protective cynicism in others sometimes....and that makes my tummy hurt.

Uh oh no accidents in here, stinks up the place. We only deal in verbal diarrhea and brain farts.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

My friend says no reason I should not post this.

No one here is saying don't post it, but be prepared for healthy discussion. When it comes to photon computing scientists are certain it is possible but economically not yet probable.

 

[Virgorising]

Pretty much what I said.

Cept you dismissed it based on this simple fact. I do not and neither does my friend. We are closer to it being a reality now than once. IS THE POINT.

Uh oh no accidents in here, stinks up the place. We only deal in verbal diarrhea and brain farts.

Another obliterating, false polarity re self protective cynicism which hobbles vs. verbal diarrhea.
__________________________________________________

Edit: Just logged back on to add: my take from the initial article was....the fact that things are so often commerce driven, and the fact that PC technology has now kinda reached its inherent limits re chips...is now distilling and potentiating the effort to finally get this done and viable and made available (and yes, and so...profitable).

So, for how long humanity has wanted to do this or that. or made attempt at this or that...is moot. Interesting, but in this now, moot.

Had people not organized and railed loudly and disruptively out of passionate commitment re evolving anti retrovirals for HIV.....FAR more sero positive humans would be dead now versus being able to live a near normal life. And all over the world.

It's always fascinating what moves things forward in all endeavors, all arenas.

 

[Virgorising]

No one here is saying don't post it, but be prepared for healthy discussion. When it comes to photon computing scientists are certain it is possible but economically not yet probable.

You missed the nucleus again: I would never post something from a personal correspondence without asking permission. He said no problem. Period.

 

[Essence_of_War]

My friend says no reason I should not post this. Been after him for running chrome given who he is; I did not understand it, esp given, I stopped long ago for the reasons I've shared.

How is this related to the optical computing?

 

[Virgorising]

How is this related to the optical computing?

Nothing is life is linear. Or rigid. I requested, received nad posted feedback on the core subject....from someone most uncommon. Anyone following the thread might have grown interest given his reality. So I added his esoteric insights re browsers.

No offense, but my feeling is you are less confused in this particular regard than just angry. I regret that.

The highest form of genius is imagination/intuition. Opposite of linear and logical. i.e. Einstein. Also why nobody at the Co it was developed at, Xerox, got the singular importance of the GUI and how it would change everything. Only when Steve Jobs went to visit there and saw it for the first time....HE DID.....and that moment, his famously intuitive, non linear genius.... changed the world for all of us.

Nite.

 

[Essence_of_War]

No offense, but my feeling is you are less confused in this particular regard than just angry. I regret that.

I think I'll leave this conversation now. I actually WAS just confused before, but now that you've been so delightfully condescending I am sort of angry.