Transcript Slide 3 Computers Are Your Future Spotlight 8

Computers Are
Your Future
© 2006 Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Computers Are Your Future Spotlight 8
Computers Are Your Future
Spotlight 8
Emerging Technologies
© 2006 Prentice-Hall, Inc
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Computers Are Your Future Spotlight 8
Tomorrow’s Hardware:
Smaller, Faster, Cheaper, Connected
 Nanotechnology
 The art of manipulating
materials on an atomic or
molecular scale especially
to build microscopic
devices
 Biochip
 Like a computer chip that
processes biological
instructions
© 2006 Prentice-Hall, Inc
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Computers Are Your Future Spotlight 8
Moore’s Law & Metcalfe’s Law
 Moore’s Law
 Microprocessors and miniature circuitry will double
in circuit density every 18 to 24 months
 Metcalfe’s Law
 The value of a computer network grows in
proportion to the square of the number of people
connected to it
© 2006 Prentice-Hall, Inc
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Computers Are Your Future Spotlight 8
The Short Term
The Typical Personal Computer: 1999 and 2007
Short Term Prediction
Component
RAM
Processor Speed (instructions per
second)
Circuit Density (number of transistors)
Hard Disk Capacity
Average Internet Connection Speed
© 2006 Prentice-Hall, Inc
1999
2007
64 MB
2 GB
400 million
14 billion
7.5 million
250 million
8 GB
270 GB
56,000 bps
2 million bps
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Computers Are Your Future Spotlight 8
Computers Everywhere
 Automated Highway Systems (AHS)
 Information is passed between vehicles and highways
to prevent collision
 Digital Forensics
 Computers used to fight cybercrime and computer
crime
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Computers Are Your Future Spotlight 8
Computers Everywhere
 Biological Feedback Devices
 Translate eye movements, body movements, and
brain waves into computer input
 Virtual Reality
 Immersive 3D environments that are computer
generated
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Computers Are Your Future Spotlight 8
Virtual Reality
 Users can use helmets and sensor-equipped gloves to
experience VR
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Computers Are Your Future Spotlight 8
Virtual Reality
 Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE)
 Projects stereoscopic images onto walls to create a
virtual environment
 Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML)
 Creates virtual environments online
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Computers Everywhere
 Chemical Detectors
 Computers used to detect traces of explosives
 Tactile Displays
 Haptics – sense of touch
 Tactile displays simulate skin to generate a sensation of
contact
© 2006 Prentice-Hall, Inc
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Computers Are Your Future Spotlight 8
Artificial Intelligence:
Toward the Smart Machine?
 Artificial intelligence is the ability to endow
computers with intelligence
 It has only been partially successful due to the
obstacles encountered
 Programs cannot function intelligently outside the
context for which they are designed
© 2006 Prentice-Hall, Inc
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Computers Are Your Future Spotlight 8
Defining Intelligence
 No clear consensus on what intelligence really is
 Intelligence involves some or all of the following abilities:






Learn and retain the learned knowledge
Reason on the basis of this knowledge
Adapt to new circumstances
Plan (develop strategies)
Communicate
Recognize patterns
© 2006 Prentice-Hall, Inc
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Computers Are Your Future Spotlight 8
Defining Intelligence
 Compared to the human brain, computers accept smaller
amounts of input and have poorer pattern recognition skills,
but calculate and output faster than humans
© 2006 Prentice-Hall, Inc
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The Turing Test
 British computer scientist Alan Turing propositioned
that a computer is intelligent if a group of unbiased
judges cannot tell the difference between computergenerated and human output
 Many believe the test is too simplistic
 Programmers have created programs to trick the
judges
© 2006 Prentice-Hall, Inc
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Neural Networks
 Computers that mimic the structure of the human
brain
 Computers composed of hundreds of thousands of tiny,
interconnected processors
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Computers Are Your Future Spotlight 8
Pattern Recognition
 Using a digital camera, pattern
recognition software processes
what is being seen and then draws
connections between the patterns
perceived and patterns stored in a
database
 Used to recognize suspicious
movement in buildings
© 2006 Prentice-Hall, Inc
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Computers Are Your Future Spotlight 8
Intelligent Agents
 Agents are automatic programs that help the user
 The programs communicate with the user, understand their needs,
and offer assistance
 Microsoft’s Office Assistant is an example
© 2006 Prentice-Hall, Inc
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Computers Are Your Future Spotlight 8
Machine Translation
 Machine translation is using
computers to translate foreign
text automatically
 Resolving ambiguities is
problematic
 One program can translate
300,000 words per hour but
results contain many errors
© 2006 Prentice-Hall, Inc
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Genetic Algorithms
 Genetic algorithms involve creating artificial
intelligence by developing laboratory conditions in
which the most intelligent programs survive
 Based on biology’s evolutionary theories that
organisms try to survive
 Algorithms are placed in a computer environment and
allowed to mutate; one algorithm emerges as the best
at tackling the problem
© 2006 Prentice-Hall, Inc
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Strong Artificial Intelligence
Area of research based on the conviction that
computers will achieve artificial intelligence
equal to that of humans
 CYC - to create a computer that knows as much
as a 12 year old
 COG - insect-like humanoid robot
 Kismet – sociable humanoid robot that can learn
and interact with humans
© 2006 Prentice-Hall, Inc
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Robots
 A robot is a computer-based device programmed to
perform motions that can accomplish useful tasks
Japanese-made Partner-type Personal Robot
(PaPeRo) – responds to human interactions
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Robots
 Industrial robots are performing tasks such as
assembly, welding, material handling, and
material transport
© 2006 Prentice-Hall, Inc
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