Moore’s Law
In science, once researchers think they have
understood how something works, they enunciate a law that should
allow fellow researchers to predict future behaviour.
"Moore's Law", however, is different. Enunciated for the first time
in 1965 and later modified many a time, it actually never said
anything about the 18 months that are supposedly needed for
manufacturers to double the speed of processors. [1]
Rather than a law, Moore's Law is a brilliant marketing statement:
we at Intel will produce ever faster semi-conductors. Someone
please stand up and find a way to use them, or we won't know who to
sell them to. [2]
Many people in Silicon Valley disagree. Ray Kurzweil, founder of
the
Singularity Movement, thinks that Moore's Law is nothing
less than a law of nature. [3]
Kevin Kelly thinks Moore's Law is a divine law by which technology
is speaking to us.
And what technology has to say is always: Let me take care of
everything. I'll fix the future.
[1]
Morozov, Evgeny.
To Save Everything, Click Here: The Folly of Technological
Solutionism, Chapter 6.
[2]
Tuomi, Ilkka.
The Lives and Death of Moore's Law.
[3]
Vance, Ashlee.
Merely Human? That's So Yesterday.
