> --- Wei Dai <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> Economic activity can't increase indefinitely, >> because eventually we'll have improved our technologies >> to the limits imposed by physics
Fred Foldvary wrote: > I don't see why physics limits all technological progress. > For example, someone could write improved software, and that > would have nothing to do with physical limitations. Engineering > improvements can also be made within current knowledge of physics. > ... There are physical limits on the speed and energy-efficiency of processors and on the capacity of data storage, and thus on the complexity and efficiency of software. Such limits have not yet been approached, of course, but they're not infinitely far away. The Tipler time-machine, if memory serves, is an example of a device that ought to work if it could be built, but cannot be built because the forces involved are (necessarily) great enough to break any possible material. -- Anton Sherwood, http://www.ogre.nu/
