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  1. #41
    I am Murloc! Ravenblade's Avatar
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    It is possible to stack components vertically using so-called 3D chip technology which is based on a technology developed at the EPFL this led to a drastic die shrink and more power efficiency. In addition to that companies like Intel been also moving to incorporation of silicon photonics.
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  2. #42
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    Quote Originally Posted by Romeo83x View Post
    The last scientific breakthrough in battery technology was in 1800. So far all attempts to develop a new battery have failed.

    Increased battery life nowadays usually comes from lowering the consumption (low voltage processors for example) rather than increasing the battery itself.
    http://www.sciencespacerobots.com/po...econd-42420134

    There are developments, they are just slow.

  3. #43
    Quote Originally Posted by Black Cascade View Post
    http://www.sciencespacerobots.com/po...econd-42420134

    There are developments, they are just slow.
    Like I have already said several times in this thread. News about new battery tech and breakthroughs just like this are dime a dozen and have been for the last 30 years. They're all lab experiments and none of them have made it out into the real world.

  4. #44
    Nothing is stopping your from solving these very issues yourself. Reminds me of the time there were no 3G signal boosters in my country. After days and days of research on google and various websites I managed to create a poll that I attached my 3G modem to with a 5meter usb extension cable. My signal improved drastically. You'll be surprised to know that almost a year after that they improved the signal in my area and I no longer need my poll.

  5. #45
    Quote Originally Posted by Shiift View Post
    I'm way more surprised why they don't invest in proper education, healthcare and rooting out corruption.

    Potato, potato: They wan't to make money off it.
    how many more billions would be enough?

  6. #46
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    Quote Originally Posted by Methanar View Post
    Also silicon reaching its physical limit is a pretty big deal. Unless we finally get that graphene shit figured out by 2020 we're going to be in big trouble.
    What happens if technology 'stagnates' as such? However could humanity cope with using the same shit for potentially decades or longer. lol

  7. #47
    I'm not sure if it's the micro- or macro-level you're concerned about when it comes to technological investments, but as a rule of thumb, stable technological advancement requires industrial policies and a combination of push-and-pull factors.

    The Rehn-Meidner model, which was the economic model of the Postwar-Golden Age(1951-1973), aimed at addressing the conflict between labour and automation; through rising real wages in line with productivity growth, ensured through tripartite-agreements between governments, unions and employers through national, central, industry-wide collective bargaining, low-productive corporations were to be forced to increase their profitability through other means than wage suppression, e.g through methods of structural adjustment, automation, robotisation and so on, with the freed labour being mobilized in high-productive corporations, who expanded as general demand rose with real wage increases.

    The tying of real wages to productivity growth ensured that industries invested in adopting new technologies in order to reduce the need for workers throughout the postwar-period, so as to improve their profitability, for example through the introduction of the oxygen furnace in the steel industry. Increased labour-intensity, as can be seen in East Asia, was financially unviable because of the relatively high cost of labour.

    Most of these overarching technologies were in turn developed through the Government, through public investment, obligations, grants, guaranteed markets, interest-free loans, fellowships, subsidies, public-private partnerships, contracts and directives, to be commercialized after becoming economically viable, for use in the private sector. This was to ensure that new markets were established in order to absorb the surplus capital and labour, to prevent mass unemployment as a result of automation or capital devaluation, both of which could result in social unrest, economic turmoil and political instability, and to provide private corporations with the technologies they required to compensate for increased labour costs.

    As an example, the various components of the iPhone all have their development attributed to the public sector of this Postwar-era:
    1. Accelerometer-technology was developed at the Pentagon and constitutes the foundation of the iPhone and the Wii.

    2. The Internet was under state control for over three decades, through DARPA and the Pentagon, known as ARPANET, at which point there were no concerns over net neutrality or censorship, until 1989, at which point ARPANET was ended and the Internet was commercialized.

    3. The computer, developed through the Pentagon, with IBM learning at military-financed labs and universities, such as MIT, how to create their own computer, and then being protected through a guaranteed market, where mass purchases from the Pentagon ensured continuous development for a near-decade until IBM became economically viable.

    4. The microchip was developed at Fairchild Semiconductors and Texas Instruments on government contracts and public subsidies, with a guaranteed market in which mass purchases and qualitative demands from the Pentagon drove down costs by a factor of 50.

    5. The GPS, originally developed at the Pentagon for guiding satellite systems through the NAVSTAR program, commercialized in the 1990s under a mandate from the Clinton administration.

    6. The touchscreen was developed at the University of Delaware through funding, grants and fellowships provided by the CIA and National Science Foundation(NSF).

    7. Digital photography was developed through the Pentagon during the Cold War, for espionage and information gathering purposes in aircrafts.

    8. Search engines were first developed through NSF funding of an early Google prototype.

    9. Cellular communication itself has its foundation in the Pentagon and military radiotelephony capabilities during the 20th century.

    Technological progress, in other words, is dependant upon how well the Government is able to manage its role; industrial policies and incomes policies shaped through tri-partite agreements between the State, labour unions and private corporations determine at which pace labour-saving technologies are invented and applied in the private sector.

    The stagnation of real wages since the Stagflation of the 1970s in the (Western) world, and the neoliberal globalization process initiated as a reaction to the falling rate of profit in its wake, drags down the pace at which automation and robotisation proceeds. Labour unions are unable to apply pressure on the private sector to adopt labour-saving technologies through their push-factor of rising real wages, whilst massive public investment in research and development, on the scale of the Postwar-era, becomes harder to maintain as the progressive taxation needed to finance such obligations is made politically and economically unviable to maintain, as speculative attacks, tax competition, offshoring, tax evasion, capital flight and outsorcing prevents States from adopting independent economic policies, forcing them to suppress real wages so as to remain competitive in the world economy and increase the market shares of their exports.

    This is why the factories and industries allocated in foreign nations where labour is readily and cheaply available are characterized by Industrial Revolution-esque conditions, with massive labour-intensity rather than technological investment.

    In other words, the kind of futuristic millieus we see depicted in video games, digital art and movies, such as Deus Ex: Human Revolution or Blade Runner, are not only unlikely to develop in the foreseeable future, but are quite likely to never appear, as neither the carrots nor sticks that are required to give birth to such an evolution are available. The more likely scenario is a sort of infinite regression, as Western nations suppress real wages and subsidize exports in order to attract investors and production to increase their exports, whilst the East Asian and Third World countries attempt to do the same, all the time cannibalizing the general demand these exports are reliant upon and ensuring continuous and escalating social unrest, political instability, economic turmoil, ethnic conflicts and class struggle of the kind we see already.

    Technological advancement, however, will still occurr, as minor wage concessions to workers will be a push-factor, and industrial policies shaped through State-Corporate cooperation becomes a pull-factor, as with e.g the Military-Industrial and National Security Complex, though at a much slower pace than was the case during the Golden Age on a relative scale, both thitherto and hitherto.
    Last edited by Adrianoz; 2013-06-09 at 02:06 PM.

  8. #48
    Quote Originally Posted by naturestorm View Post
    It seems companies don't want to invest to solve some of the basic tech problems.

    For example, with the rise of higher and higher video formats out there, the next being the 4K, the file size is huge. I am talking about 40+ GB for one standalone movie.

    Another example are smartphone batteries, where they seem to last less and less. Now I know they tried to hotfix it by having shorter recharge time, but still use a smartphone for 3-4h and it's almost out.
    It is not a case of investment, but the demand for the technology to do more.
    The reason smart phone batteries die quicker is higher resolution screens, faster CPU/GPU.
    The battery capacity has improved, but been outpaced by the drain from ever faster components.

    Always-on GPS, Internet access a few times a minute, apps running in the background.
    Smartphones rarely get the chance to simply be a phone any more.
    Last edited by ComputerNerd; 2013-06-09 at 02:04 PM.

  9. #49
    Pit Lord aztr0's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by naturestorm View Post
    Another example are smartphone batteries, where they seem to last less and less. Now I know they tried to hotfix it by having shorter recharge time, but still use a smartphone for 3-4h and it's almost out.
    I agree this is what companies really need to invest in. All those new "features" sound all well and dandy, but the damn battery can't last a full day of use? BS.

  10. #50
    I am Murloc! Tomana's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by naturestorm View Post
    Another example are smartphone batteries, where they seem to last less and less. Now I know they tried to hotfix it by having shorter recharge time, but still use a smartphone for 3-4h and it's almost out.
    Because we would need new technologies for that, and we don't even know where to look for them.
    Batteries (not just smartphone) are the next big thing, a breakthrough in that area will mean so much.
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  11. #51

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