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How many billions of transistors in an iPhone processor?

lemire.me

91–100 of 202 posts

Re: How many billions of transistors in an iPhone processor?

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine if all of the worlds armament budgets were instead rerouted to science and space travel...

Whitey on the Moon / Lyrics A rat done bit my sister Nell. (with Whitey on the moon) Her face and arms began to swell. (and Whitey's on the moon) I can't pay no doctor bill. (but Whitey's on the moon) Ten years from now I'll be payin' still. (while Whitey's on the moon) The man jus' upped my rent las' night. ('cause Whitey's on the moon) No hot water, no toilets, no lights. (but Whitey's on the moon) I wonder why he'…

Great song.

Re: How many billions of transistors in an iPhone processor?

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is more amazing that we went from the Wright brothers in 1903 to landing on the moon in 1969.

And we haven't been back in 50 years, despite all the incredible technology improvements. The Apollo guidance computers had "several tens of thousands of transistors"[0], we now have 19 billion in our pocket! 0: https://www.aei.org/technology-and-innovation/apollo-11-mank... .

Kinda just a bucket list item really.

Go to the moon - check

Been there, done that, to expensive and the cocktails where shit.

Re: How many billions of transistors in an iPhone processor?

#93
post #3

I consider myself very lucky to be born in this age of civilization where technology increases at such incredible pace. Playing games on an atari in my childhood, then sega master system, nintendo, snes, pc games, the first 3d acceleration consumer cards, all the way to having a supercomputer in my pocket. What a time to be alive.

I think it is more amazing that we went from the Wright brothers in 1903 to landing on the moon in 1969.

These are always fun thought exercises. IIRC, Sapiens had an example if someone fell asleep in 1000 and woke up in 1500, they would still recognize the world. But if they fell asleep in 1500 and woke up in 2000, it would be unrecognizable.

What it seems like we're seeing is the compounding of science. Much like how compound interest works. I often wish I was born today just so I could see the progress in the next 50-100 years.

Re: How many billions of transistors in an iPhone processor?

#94
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to see some justification for considering science and space exploration as one and the same. It's hardly as if we've run out of things to learn from this planet, after all.

They don't have to be the same, but exploration is a necessary part of the scientific process, whether that be in the depths of the ocean, inside the earth, or in space. Curiosity has driven exploration, discovery, and subsequently science. It's fine that you're not as curious as some, but suggesting that we must only focus on things on Earth when we have literally billions of people on earth that all have individual…

The Nuremberg Code also limits progress. Will you make the same complaint about it?

If not, then we've established a mutually acceptable baseline for limits on human progress, and a subset of mutually acceptable reasons for imposing such limits. I suggest only that we need not stop there.

Re: How many billions of transistors in an iPhone processor?

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And still mostly wasted. Look after the people on Earth first. Once we show we can accomplish that, then and only then do we begin to earn the stars.

We would be still in caves if everybody followed your logic.

The equation of all progress with any progress is yours, not mine. I haven't made that argument; if you want to see it defended, I'm afraid you'll have to do so yourself.

Re: How many billions of transistors in an iPhone processor?

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given how Europeans have behaved themselves on this continent, that really doesn't qualify as a meaningful counterargument. If anything, it's more to my point than yours.

How have they behaved?

With which slaughter would you like me to start?

Re: How many billions of transistors in an iPhone processor?

#97

It’s funny, but you’d figure as sophisticated as the manufacturering standards are they could give an exact number. Or couldn’t they?

In theory, the answer is computable, but it probably doesn’t mean what you think it does.

A gigantic chunk of those transistors are just SRAM memory cells for various caches. The number of transistors used to actually implement the logic of the SoC is significantly smaller. I would be surprised if it was more than 5%.

The growth of this number between generations is also likely not very large. Most of the growth is also probably cache sizes.

Re: How many billions of transistors in an iPhone processor?

#98
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It largely has, yes. The fact that things aren't perfect isn't justification for condemnation of the entire process.

It's rare I find myself reaching for the adjective "Panglossian".

Don’t lie.

Re: How many billions of transistors in an iPhone processor?

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly you aren't Dr Strange, able to see the results of every possible decision to get the best outcome. That would be cool. But for now, we have to just observe how countries enact progress, and it does seem to be that the ones that delegate and diversify do the best at it.

It takes being a Marvel superhero to extrapolate from yesterday and today to tomorrow?

No, to know what past change would've made today much better.

Re: How many billions of transistors in an iPhone processor?

#100
post #48

I've often struggled to really "grok" how complex chips are. They all kinda look the same. I write software, so I know how complex that is, but like the device itself -- it's this little black box. What's the difference between one little black box and another? Most people don't even get that far; they think the computer is the screen that lights up. I've been reading datasheets a lot at work. The datasheet for an ST…

It's the power of abstraction.
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