Because Moore's Law states "computer power doubles every eighteen months," it is conceivable that within a few decades, robots will possess the same intelligence as house pets. By the year 2020 Moore's Law may very well disintegrate and the era of silicon could end. For over fifty years, the constant growth of computer power has been fueled by the ability to form tiny silicon transistors. Fifty years of consistently widdling down the size, and increasing the quantity of these transistors have lead to a point where this process is reaching its limits.
The Pentium chip in our computers has a layer of about twenty atoms across. By 2020 it may be down to about five. If this happens Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle will come into effect, and the location of the electron will no longer be known. Electricity would then slip out of the chip and fry our computers. Assuming in 2020 we are able to make the transition from digital computers to quantum computers (still in the process of being produced), Moore's Law may continue into the post-silicon age. If this law continues to follow suit, in the near future robots may be able to master human logic and emotion. If a robot can obtain the same logic as a monkey, which is self-aware and can create its own agenda, it could threaten the existence of man. There is nothing in the laws of physics that prevents artificial intelligence from surpassing the human brain. If this day comes, we will have lost the evolutionary race against machine.
The fast-pace evolution of computer technology may very well be the undoing of human intelligence, thought, and creativity.
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