• Science

    The Fastest Internet Ever

    By Posted on 7.28.2008 10 Comments

    Sometimes, what futurist Ray Kurzweil calls the “ever-increasing rate of technology” is scary. (Who, exactly, wants to live forever? Or grant robots the same rights as humans?) But when singularity—the theory that technology will improve exponentially until it reaches a state of unprecedented progress—quickens the Internet’s pace by a hundredfold, I will gladly drink Kurzweil’s Kool-Aid. Scientists from the University of Sydney have inadvertently demonstrated this theory by making the Web 60 times faster than current top-notch speeds, and promising to raise that to 100 times in the near future.

    7.29.2008 at 12:56pm - Comment by bwrich

    Can someone explain this: The original article says the switch can change states in about a picosecond. A picosecond is 1/1,000,000,000,000 (1E-12) of a second, isn't it? then why is it, the switch can only make 1 million switches in a second? How many state changes does it require to switch the path of the signal? A million? That seems wrong...

  • Science

    The Fastest Internet Ever

    By Posted on 7.28.2008 10 Comments

    Sometimes, what futurist Ray Kurzweil calls the “ever-increasing rate of technology” is scary. (Who, exactly, wants to live forever? Or grant robots the same rights as humans?) But when singularity—the theory that technology will improve exponentially until it reaches a state of unprecedented progress—quickens the Internet’s pace by a hundredfold, I will gladly drink Kurzweil’s Kool-Aid. Scientists from the University of Sydney have inadvertently demonstrated this theory by making the Web 60 times faster than current top-notch speeds, and promising to raise that to 100 times in the near future.

    7.29.2008 at 12:48pm - Comment by bwrich

    I don't understand your initial comments: "Who wants to live forever?" and "Or grant robots the same rights as humans?" Are you just being flippant? Who wants to die? Are you in the habit of avoiding medical attention so that you will die sooner? When will you start? As to robots, better be careful there. If we aren't "nice" to them, they may do more than just ignoring us, once their intelligence surpasses ours. They may return our hostility.



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