Linus Torvalds worries about how Linux will handle end of Moore's Law

arstechnica.com

21 points·fejr··6 comments

For those not paying attention, this panel was the culmination of the Sarah Sharp/Linus Torvalds "abusive language" thread on the kernel developer mailing list. [1] The thread, or any abusive langauge situations, were not discussed in the panel.

Fun info nugget: Sarah was supposed to bring (THC-laced) brownies to this panel, with Linus' approval.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6069952

"People used to be talking about having thousands of cores on one die because it keeps shrinking, and those people clearly have no idea about physics because we won't be shrinking for much longer."

When shrinking is over we'll start going up - i.e. 3D chips. Intel already uses basic 3D in their FinFET process. 3D memory chips available commercially for some time.

That only helps with the 'size' problem, which we do not really have; it does nothing [1] with the 'power' problem, and the related 'heat' problem.

If you stack 20 ARM CPUs in a single package, it fits in your phone, but it will burn it, too, if it does not run out of its battery first.

[1] Maybe a little bit, as 3D allows for slightly shorter connections.

buried in the article: Linus confirms that US Government has approached him to put a backdoor in the linux kernel.

"A couple of final notes: The panelists were asked if they've been approached by the US government to insert a back door into the Linux kernel. Torvalds said no while nodding his head, drawing a laugh."

...No he didn't...

Edit: Not clearly at least

Is Linus familiar with memristor-based computing architecture [1][2]? It will most definitely allow Moore's law to proceed on schedule.

1. http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/07/hp-memristors/

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memristor

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