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On a scale of zero to really big deal. How much of a big deal is this?
Sounds potentially like a big deal :)
> 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.
No chance. Everyone knows what a brain cell is, to some extent. Even people who have too few to rub together don't really feel like they know what a transistor is after reading the Wikipedia page for them, twice...
> 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.
It's a place that celebrates a history of making stuff glow.
Super cool -- one challenge will be that in order to live on the hot processors of today, these emitters will need to still work at around 400K -- the good news is that these appear to still work well at around 300K -- but it sounds like these go to nearly no bandgap at higher temperatures and shift into the infrafred. But yea, pretty awesome stuff..
> 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 t…
They _might_ know the transistor replaced vacuum tubes, but I doubt many would be able to tell what function either had, or be able to point out the transistors inside such a radio.
> 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 source paper[1], "Single-chip microprocessor that communicates directly using light" may be closer to your preferred level. [1] - https://www.nature.com/articles/nature16454.epdf