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From: philm@astroatc.UUCP (Phil Mason)
Newsgroups: net.arch
Subject: Re: VERY LARGE main memories: crypt
Message-ID: <553@astroatc.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 8-Sep-86 19:37:03 EDT
Article-I.D.: astroatc.553
Posted: Mon Sep  8 19:37:03 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 8-Sep-86 21:20:37 EDT
References: <1178@bu-cs.bu-cs.BU.EDU> <1087@ihwpt.UUCP>
Reply-To: philm@astroatc.UUCP (Phil Mason)
Organization: Astronautics ATC, Madison, WI
Lines: 44

In article <1087@ihwpt.UUCP> bwong@ihwpt.UUCP (bruce wong) writes:
>> 
>> >As I think I've mentioned before, it is believed that there are
>> >approximately 2^200 electrons in the universe.  Since it is unlikely that
>> >anybody would want to reference more things than there are electrons in the
>> >universe, 200 bits seems like a good upper bound for the length of a memory
>> >address.
>> >
>> >Roy Smith, {allegra,philabs}!phri!roy
>> 
>> Yeah, but now think more like a physicist (I actually have little idea
>> how to do that):
>> 
>> We need snapshots of those 2^200 electrons from the point of the big
>> bang to the present in picoseconds. And then there are the "what-ifs"...
>> Not to mention their x,y,z position and various qualities like energy
>> level and spin...
>> 
>> You laugh? too bad, no?
>> 
>> 	-Barry Shein, Boston University
>
>If there are only that many electrons in the whole universe, how
>can you develop storage, using electrons, that is as large ?

Isn't 10^200 more like it? I didn't think those physicists used base two
very often!

If you were to build a memory THAT big, I guess you'd have one electron
in each cell, leaving the rest of the universe devoid of electrons, thus
blowing the universe up due to all of the exposed positive charges repelling
each other.

Whew, let's not think of that (im?)possibility!


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Kirk  : Bones ?                |  Phil Mason, Astronautics Technical Center
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