Silicon Valley

TJT

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
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BrutulTM_sl said:
They do use multi-bit symbols in modulation schemes like QAM for data transmission. Transistors are pretty hard to beat though since they can put 50 kabillion of them on a half inch square of silicon and that seems to double every couple years so I doubt that binary is going anywhere in the foreseeable future.
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Pretty much this. There are very logical reasons why binary is used. Best to not think about the show's topics too hard though. As a magical algorithm can't change how compression actually works out mathematically. There is always a limit, and it is generally based on how much the receiving computer can compute for all of the data removed. If you take out too much and the receiving processor can't fill in the blanks. Fail. But let us suspend our disbelief for the sake of utter brilliant television.
 
C

CnCGOD_sl

shitlord
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There are limits, both in theory on how compressed something can get and on CPU power to calculate the compression. It usually becomes a balancing act, but new faster compressions are constantly being developed. The thing is, they are far from universal because the better algorithms require knowledge of the format of the content. So something designed for text will be MEH for video, where as something like h265 knows about the concept of frames and how they relate and can do cross frame calculations. There is also the lossy (h265,mpeg,mp3,etc) vs lossless(LZO,LZ4,Snappy,zlib,deflate,bzip2,etc). I work in the database world where faster and quality compressions can make a big difference, they end up being hard to monetize though as noone wants to pay licensing for them and thus most end up OSS. We default to LZ4 which is fast like snappy and has good ratios, in fact the cost of an algorithm like LZ4 is so small that the io and other savings results in higher performance for most cases.
 
T

Tenks

Bronze Knight of the Realm
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There isn't really a magic bullet compression, either. Snappy has it's place. LZO has it's place.
 
Sylas

Sylas

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Tenks_sl said:
I did come up with a great idea in the shower the other day. So you know how computers can only read 0 and 1. Well what if they could also read 2, or 3, or 8 in the same memory space. So I got to thinking. The boards are laid out in such a way that it can only be either on or off. But what about if we went down to the atomic level? What if we managed to create a device that could add and remove electrons from an atom. Then another device which would be able to read the number of electrons in an atom. Suddenly a single atom could store many numbers which could be used for computational processing. Pretty sure this is just blatant science fiction but it would be cool!
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BrutulTM_sl said:
They do use multi-bit symbols in modulation schemes like QAM for data transmission. Transistors are pretty hard to beat though since they can put 50 kabillion of them on a half inch square of silicon and that seems to double every couple years so I doubt that binary is going anywhere in the foreseeable future.
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They've already taken Transistors to the atomic level when they built one from a single phosphorus atom a few years back. The problem getting down to the atomic level with electronics is that single atoms work differently than molecules, and you need to keep them at like -200 degrees Celsius for the electron not to just fuck off on it's own and do its own thing.
 
brekk

brekk

Dancing Dino Superstar
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The biggest issue with normal transistors is we can't make them much smaller. Lithography is already to a point where the wave amplitude of light is causing bluring because the components are smaller then the wave itself. Hence the move to Ultra Ultra violet light, and submerged lithography. Even so 8nm is about the absolute limit at which point more transistors will no longer be a solution. Graphene is going to be the logical next step, with capabilities of 100ghz, and still using a standard 0 and 1 transistor. Quantum computing is much farther out as it's a complete rethinking of digital electronics and computer science. Even when it becomes viable there will be a huge delay for people to figure out how to optimally program for it.
 
Alex

Alex

Still a Music Elitist
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Grimmlokk_sl said:
I like computers.
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rrr_img_68541.jpg
 
Pharazon

Pharazon

Silver Knight of the Realm
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BrutulTM_sl said:
They do use multi-bit symbols in modulation schemes like QAM for data transmission. Transistors are pretty hard to beat though since they can put 50 kabillion of them on a half inch square of silicon and that seems to double every couple years so I doubt that binary is going anywhere in the foreseeable future.
Click to expand...
What's that have to do with computers being in binary though. Like you say, modulation schemes just carry data, it's not like you can do calculations with information in that form. In the end the symbols have to be demodulated back into 0's and 1's in order for the data to be used for anything.
 
iannis

iannis

Musty Nester
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Doesn't that really have to do with the basic physics of how a transistor actually works? It is fundamentally, physically, an OR. You don't get AND out of a single transistor no matter how clever you are.

From what I understand (which ain't much), the idea behind quantum computing is that you can get OR And/or AND out of the same transistor analog. And that would be an exponential evolution.
 
Void

Void

Experiencer
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It's extremely distracting that now the guy who plays Erlich is doing radio commercials for a smart home company (Vivint if you care). I have heard him at least once an hour for the past week or so now, and all I can think of is him getting out of the pool and flicking his hair back or simulating stroking two dicks in each hand.

If it isn't him, someone sounds exactly like him.
 
Void

Void

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Motherfuck, it has to be him. I need to figure out a way to record it, but short of the old cassette tape method, I don't know how!

EDIT: They have an online player, so I will record it and see if I can't snip out the commercial when it plays again and post it here.
 
Void

Void

Experiencer
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Especially when you consider that I just now realized they play completely different commercials online!
 
brekk

brekk

Dancing Dino Superstar
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This show rivals Futurama for best nerd comedy that is actually true to nerds. (Fuck off Big Bang)
 
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