[ivan.moony]

I have some crazy thought for some time in my head, johnphantom reminded me of this:

How hardware accelerators are built? They accelerate running some function that gives some complex result according to complex parameter set. I think that with hardware, if complex enough, you could accelerate i.e. showing 3d object to screen just in one processor cyclus, with memory copying i.e. 3d object and camera position for input. The result would be X * Y matrix of output for showing on the screen.

Like a mechanical machine with binary switches for input that are linked to many other other switches that consequently lead to end switches of output. Any combination of interlinked switches could be built, allowing us to setup input switches that (mechanically) show result instantly (one cyclus) as setup of output switches. Only barrier would be the speed of setup input switches.

Now imagine if these switches was not mechanical switches, but a light tunnels that direct light from input tunnels to output tunnels through some micro prisms and micro mirrors. By positioning prisms and mirrors we should be able to get any output from given input. So, in one cyclus (theoretically) we would lighten up some combination of input and get result on the other side of the system in a speed of light.

And what if these mirrors and prisms can change positions dynamically in the system (let's call it a light processor). When we run a regular code in computer, we could occasionaly compile the code into some setup of mirrors and prisms and get on-the-fly universal accelerator for speed of light fast running code.

I wonder if this like machine already exists in some laboratory in the world...

[Freddy]

Missed this. Interesting, but I guess any mechanical things would slow it down.

Doesn't electricity move at the speed of light anyway ?

I keep seeing quantum computers come up in the news. We do need faster processing for sure.

[Data]

Whatever bus the data is sent down, electricity or light, the data will have to be sent in Hz, either MHz or GHz, one piece of data per Cycle or Hz. having a device that reads the Hz very quickly is the challenge here.

Light has it's advantages, less power consumption and less heat generated but yes both light and electricity travel at the same speed. 186,000 miles per second, I think.

[ivan.moony]

That is the speed of light in vacuum. Nothing except light can move at the speed of light. As electrons approach the speed of light, they get heavier and heavier (by relativity theory). You can fasten them up by putting a higher voltage, but I think the mass gets into infinity on the speed of light and inertia forbids further acceleration.

I think photons have a mass too and I think that is one of paradoxes in physics.

I think we have learned in the school that an electron doesn't really need to pass all path through the wire. In fact, the electron pushes those in front of it, so when electrons enter wire, on the other side electrons instantly come out.

This gets me thinking of an effect where things develop faster than light. Like when we have a stick that is long 186 000 miles and we push it 1 inch on one side. Would we have to wait the whole second before a move happens on the other side? Spooky...

[ivan.moony]

interesting reading: http://education.jlab.org/qa/electron_01.html

[Data]

I know scientists are playing with the idea already, we talked about it on a thread somewhere.

http://gizmodo.com/graphene-computer-chips-run-on-light-instead-of-electri-1325215948

[Art]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/23/science/faster-than-the-speed-of-light.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

[Data]

Nothing except light can move at the speed of light.

Radio waves also travel at the speed of light, though to be fair both light and radio waves are basically the same thing but at different wave lengths. 

[Art]

Maybe except when we Square the speed of light as in:
E=mc2

Then how fast is that huh!?!??!!? NyaNya....

[Data]

Sorry, my bad. 

This topic interested me and pulled me to get involved, you guys know I'm computer mad 

It will not happen again.

Good topic ivan.moony 

[ivan.moony]

wiki says that shadows on very distant objects can move faster than light, but I don't know if that qualifies...

[Art]

Gee, I dunno...they're pretty fast. Ever try to catch your shadow? Hard as heck isn't it!! 

[Freddy]

Also if you fancy going to visit a black hole then it's possible that space is being sucked in faster than the speed of light - which is why light cannot escape. I got that from a programme on TV tonight as it happens.

[Art]

What? The people on the TV programme were sucked into a black hole?! How awfully...absorbing!