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After 50 years of effort, researchers made silicon emit light

wired.com

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Re: After 50 years of effort, researchers made silicon emit light

#5
> Modern transistors, which function as a computer’s brain cells

Who's the target audience for this analogy? If you understand what a brain cell is then you probably know what a transistor is too. I would bet that more people know what a transistor is than what a brain cell is.

Re: After 50 years of effort, researchers made silicon emit light

#7
post #5

> Modern transistors, which function as a computer’s brain cells Who's the target audience for this analogy? If you understand what a brain cell is then you probably know what a transistor is too. I would bet that more people know what a transistor is than what a brain cell is.

The whole article is like this (facepalm)

Re: After 50 years of effort, researchers made silicon emit light

#8
post #5

> Modern transistors, which function as a computer’s brain cells Who's the target audience for this analogy? If you understand what a brain cell is then you probably know what a transistor is too. I would bet that more people know what a transistor is than what a brain cell is.

You don't need to know the details of a brain cell to get the analogy. If I say "transistor" to my mom, she wouldn't be able to tell me what it is. If I say "It's like the brain cells for the computer", she would probably understand that "Ah, so a computer has many transistors that helps it think", which seems good enough for an article with a broad audience.

> I would bet that more people know what a transistor is than what a brain cell is

I'm happy to take you up on that bet, but it depends on what bubble you ask. In San Francisco/Silicon Valley, that's probably true, but outside any high-tech bubbles, more people know that we have brain cells in our heads, than we have transistors in our computers, I'm fairly sure.

Re: After 50 years of effort, researchers made silicon emit light

#9
post #5

> Modern transistors, which function as a computer’s brain cells Who's the target audience for this analogy? If you understand what a brain cell is then you probably know what a transistor is too. I would bet that more people know what a transistor is than what a brain cell is.

I've been told I have two of them

Re: After 50 years of effort, researchers made silicon emit light

#10
post #9
post #5

> Modern transistors, which function as a computer’s brain cells Who's the target audience for this analogy? If you understand what a brain cell is then you probably know what a transistor is too. I would bet that more people know what a transistor is than what a brain cell is.

I've been told I have two of them

So n=2 of Moore’s law for you. Keep going.
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