Re: [xml-dev] The year is 2027, and we need to examine archived X ML doc

["Ken North" <kennorth@sbcglobal.net>]

Len Bullard wrote:
> and density takes another quantum leap forward, or quantum computing becomes
> practical

Bruce Cox wrote:
>>  When a patent file wrapper reaches age 40, we send it to NARA.
>> What we will do when the file wrapper is not paper, is not yet determined,
>> but one possible scenario is that the USPTO will retain responsibility for
>>  keeping archived file wrappers accessible indefinitely as a kind of adjunct
>> to NARA.

This IBM breakthrough might lead to storage capacity we can hardly image, but it
also presents a challenge. We haven't realized the goals of the Semantic Web and
searching 40 million web sites is a challenge. Now imagine the problems of
content-addressable storage and information retrieval with the storage
capacities mentioned in this article.

"IBM has known for a long time that harnessing the "power" of magnetic
anisotropy is the key to develop structures and devices of atomic and sub-atomic
scales, which would later become for example the building bricks of incredibly
small, but also incredibly "generous" storage equipments. So they've focused
their attention on how to measure the magnetic anisotropy of individual atoms,
an endeavor previously considered inaccessible.

Measuring an atom's magnetic anisotropy is vital for isolating its capacity to
store information, thus opening insights into quantum storage. In 1959, physics
icon Richard Feynman, in a characteristic back-of-the-envelope calculation,
predicted that all the words written in the history of the world could be
contained in a cube of material one two-hundredths of an inch wide - provided
those words were written with atoms.
...
With further work it may be possible to build structures consisting of small
clusters of atoms, or even individual atoms, that could reliably store magnetic
information. Such a storage capability would enable nearly 30,000 feature length
movies or the entire contents of YouTube - millions of videos estimated to be
more than 1,000 trillion bits of data- to fit in a device the size of an iPod.
Perhaps more importantly, the breakthrough could lead to new kinds of structures
and devices that are so small they could be applied to entire new fields and
disciplines beyond traditional computing."

The complete article is at:
http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_IBM_Opens_New_Doors_to_Quantum_Computing_08209.html


======== Ken North ===========
www.KNComputing.com

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