Analog computing is a term used by Paul Saffo of the
Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, California, to describe silicon-based
microsensors that sense and react to external (natural) stimuli in something
that approximates the rhythm of reality rather than the "artificial"
binary behavior of digital computing. Saffo foresees that, by implanting
tiny machines including sensors and actuators in the same materials used
to manufacture digital memory and processors (and by using some of the
same manufacturing techniques), the next decade will increasingly find
uses for "intelligent" material that responds to its environment
in analog or dynamically responding fashion. Examples include packages
that can "talk back" to their handlers; airplane wings that
can reshape themselves as they meet turbulence; chairs that can mold themselves
into the best supporting shape for each person.
|
