Computers In Your Brain & Power Consumption Oddities

[Nerdsauce]

So, technically this is two questions not one - but they are, in a way, closely related:

 

Do you think there will ever be a time when computers get to the level where their processing-speed-to-power-consumption-rate allows for the feasible combining of computers with our physical bodies/brains? I think most people are generally aware that our brains have processing capabilities that even today far outstrip anything we can produce, yet they only use power on the micro-watt and micro-voltage level in comparison to our computers using hundreds of watts of power.

 

It's a topic than more than one sci-fi movie has touched upon - supplementing your own brain's processing capabilities with built-in computers and increasing your own memory abilities with artificial RAM and Hard Drive space (or even renting out your brains natural available memory space to private companies etc) - as well as providing interesting new ways to interact with, and control, your computer. However all that is only possible once computers reach the point where they are using roughly the same amount of electrical power as our bodies (important for good data flow rates between processor and brain - and to stop electrocution!) and the processors get closer to the comparative processing level of our brains (although that isn't strictly necessary as our brains have already shown a remarkable ability to work around such issues)

 

I ask because I've noticed a curious trend lately of shrinking the processing technology (we're now down to 22nm levels), increasing their power-consumption efficiency to decrease total power usage - yet oddly as each new generation of processors and GPUs are released the total power demands of our computers are going UP. 10-15 years ago a 250-500W supply seemed way over the top, yet now 800W to even 1500W power units are commonplace. If processors are getting better at using LESS power to do MORE, and the same for GPUs - why is the general power demands of our computers increasing not decreasing? And does this hurt the overall idea that one day we'll have computers implanted inside us in some way?

 

Sorry for such a long post, it's I'd be fascinated to see what your opinions are on this topic. :)

[acturisme]

Well first off even ultra high end system don't really need over 1000 watts ALL the time.  Unless you plan to build a 4x Titan SLI rig that's just overkill.  But the interesting thing to me is you are comparing two different types of processing.  If computers at contemporary speeds still used punch cards to enter data then they would use millions of watts.  A brain is as different to a pc as a pc is different to a computer that uses gears or vacuum tubes.  But to answer your question more directly, I think a great deal has been written on this topic by very intelligent people.  Look up the human "singularity."  I think we will become more and more mechanical in nature slowly as time progresses.  This will be evident in medicine first as we try to prolong our lifespans via hardware over chemistry.  Even if that hardware is protein based it will supplant what had been the work of our genome.  Eventually humans will need to be defined with a broader spectrum of types or simply 'intelligence'.  We may one day see an era where you define yourself as 100% flesh human, cyber-human, or digital human.  But I do think that silicone based processors will be used first.  To a degree they already are.