15.4 Promising technologies for improving computing performance
In this section we examine a number of technologies that promise continued exponential increases in computing performance. We begin by looking at near-term improvements to existing semi-conductor based computing. We then turn our attention to four fundamentally different technologies that could revolutionize computing. These technologies are: optical computing (also known as photonic computing), bio-computing, molecular-scale nano-computing, and quantum computing.
Of course, there is no guarantee that all (or any) of these technologies will work out in practice. It could be that we will hit a roadblock when we need our next “technology fix” to continue exponential progress. On the other hand, when one considers the number of promising lines of research continued exponential growth, while far from guaranteed, does seem likely – at least to this author.