# The end of Moore's law

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-moores-law/452519>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 11, 2008, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-moores-law/452519 "2008-06-11T01:14:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-moores-law/452519/21 "2008-06-12T18:18:48Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=DanBlather]  
There are ways to stack transistors on the same wafer. Sorry, too lazy to cite.  
[/QUOTE]  
But from my link in post 14 each process layer/process step ends up costing linearly. It doesn’t seem to be any cheaper (like, at all) to make a 100-process-step wafer vs two 50-step ones.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-moores-law/452519/22 "2008-06-16T21:28:53Z")

</div>

the end is nigh

THE END IS NIGH!

The end is nigh?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-moores-law/452519/23 "2008-06-17T02:21:20Z")

</div>

It’ll be awfully strange if we achieve the physical capacity to build a computer with more logic gates than a human brain has synapses, and yet still have no idea how to wire it into an AI.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-moores-law/452519/24 "2008-06-17T02:32:28Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=Lumpy]  
It’ll be awfully strange if we achieve the physical capacity to build a computer with more logic gates than a human brain has synapses, and yet still have no idea how to wire it into an AI.  
[/QUOTE]

Scientists triumphantly build a computer with 1 trillion transistors and 20 trillion connections between them.

They stand back. Tah Da!

Crickets chirp. Someone finally stands up and wants to know what it can do.

Answer: It is the most powerful computer ever assembled by several orders of magnitude.

Yes, but what can it do?

Answer: I don’t know but it it kicks ass running the latest games.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-moores-law/452519/25 "2008-06-17T03:36:36Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=Lumpy]  
It’ll be awfully strange if we achieve the physical capacity to build a computer with more logic gates than a human brain has synapses, and yet still have no idea how to wire it into an AI.  
[/QUOTE]  
Oh, that’s absolutely true. See, what we’ll need is a computer powerful enough _to wire the AI_ (ie, imagining some sort of neural network algorithm). And that’s orders and orders of magnitude beyond.

Anyway, about Moore’s law…

looks like we’ll never get there?

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-moores-law/452519.md?page=1)