Computer Engineering - Distributed Computing, Quantum Computers, Scalable TCP

What is intelligence? What is cognition? Is thinking andtechnological advances of the 21st century.
thought uniquely human? Can Artificial IntelligentAs the microprocessor throughput approaches the
machines experience emotion and feelings, such asspeed limitations imposed by fundamental device
love and anger? ... Today's IT systems are mostlytechnology, computational parallelism becomes the
data and communication tools for human workers.most viable alternative for achieving breakthroughs in
Tomorrow's IT systems will be able to do more:computing power. Just as hardware advances drive
automate decisions, intelligently analyze large amountsmultimedia applications, in turn, also increase the
of data, and learn from their mistakes. ... It isappetite for more computational power. No matter
predicted that computers will match thehow fast computers become, new applications are
computational functions of the human brain early infound that stretch the available resources to the limit.
the next century, and that soon afterwards humansRecent advances in technology are providing faster
and computers will merge to become a new species.microprocessors and network communications,
Can humans compete?reducing power dissipation in electronic systems and
Mankind has always thought of what if. If I could onlyproducing higher-density, low-cost data storage
find a way to get from Point A to Point B faster, Idevices.
would have more time for X,Y, &Z. from theIn turn, these advances are creating a demand for
first invention of the flint rock for hunting, to thenew multi-media applications and interfaces. Continued
discovery of fire, we have always looked for waysadvances in computing, communication and storage
to do things just a little better than the day before.technologies, combined with the development of a
That same mind set led man to discover that thenational and global grid system, holds the promise of
world was round instead of flat, that a country calledproviding the required capacities and an effective
America existed, that machines could work fasterenvironment for computing and science.
than man, i.e. (The Industrial Revolution), and to our