Why Are Analogue Computers Really On The Rise Again?
Hint: Moore’s Law + Differential Equations!
Analogue computers have long been considered outdated technology. They used to be the pinnacle of computing until the 1970s, after which digital computing came to the fore. The results since then speak for themselves. Almost every device we use in our daily lives today starting from smartphones to toothbrushes has digital computing devices on board. Digital computers are simply unmatched at general computing and solve so many of our problems practically. Yet, of late, our attention has started moving back towards analogue computers. We are now trying to revive the progress from the early 1970s with the development of analogue computer technology. We see both scientific researchers as well as technology start-ups investing time and resources into developing the analogue computer technology of the future (for details, please see references at the end of the article). Why though? In this article, I try to answer that very question. But in order to get to the ‘why‘, we need to cover a few things first. I’ll start with the origins of analogue computing.
The Origins of Analogue Computers
In 1901, sea divers discovered an ancient shipwreck off the coast of a tiny island called Antikythera in Greece. Among the…
