During the Web 2.0 Summit earlier this year, Paul Otellini, the CEO of Intel Corporation, brought up an interesting paradox about Moore’s Law, the theory that computer hardware will drive ever smaller and more complex at an exponential rate. Rather than embrace my inner-geek and describe what that means when we get down into computers the size of atoms and the impending singularity, I’ll try and put it as simply as Paul did at the conference…
Moore’s law is not a law of nature, it’s a law of human innovation. And thus, the limits are ours.
From what I’m sensing, 2009 will be a year of less new things. It will be a year to aggregate your social presence and sanitize your friends list. We could consider this a side effect of the economic downturn. Perhaps “tightening the belt” is not just limited to our finances, but also to our valuable time. However, there are others that say we are reaching our human limits…
As limits of quantum mechanics will forever taunt Intel as they drive technology smaller and smaller, we are limited by the evolution of our brain and our learned culture. There are only so many things we can remember, only so much we can multitask, and only so many “friends” we can really follow on Twitter!!
But I have faith. Every time Intel hits a wall, they break it down, they innovate, and they find a new way to move technology along. And we will too.
2009 will bring us aggregation tools that will help us sort through the noise, while our brains and learned social behavior has a chance to catch up to the brave new always-on world. Someday, we will be born with the natural skills to handle such dense information. Although, one look at the digital natives, who happily browse with 20 windows open, music blasting, videos playing, makes you wonder if that evolution hasn’t already happened.
Marta Strickland