X-Message-Number: 29562
From: "John de Rivaz" <>
Subject: 40 years of computer progress
Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2007 12:24:35 +0100

30 years ago, in 1977, you could buy a massive 80MB of storage for 
$11,999 -- and that is the bulk price for OEMs.

This article celebrates the last 40 years of computing:


http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9023960&pageNumber=1

Today, there are few if any new 80GB (not 80MB) hard disks available. Indeed 
today 80MB on a solid state memory card would be hard to find -- the 
smallest are an appreciable fraction of a GB and indeed 4 and 8 GB are 
become more and more available.

But for the complete cryonics process to work, from preservation to 
reanimation, progress is required in fields much more regulated than 
computers. Admittedly, the telephone network itself consisted of government 
monopolies and huge multinational companies, but people could still make 
baseband modems at 300 baud acoustically coupled to a telephone. (0.0003 
MB/s) The regulatory problems associated with the sort of development 
required by cryonics are much greater.

We have to live in this world of over-regulation, so we need to consider the 
cost of compliance.

As an example, what would a simple will if drawn up by a lawyer have cost in 
1967? What does it cost today? A quick check around Google didn't produce a 
figure for 1967 - just a plethora of articles complaining about the legal 
profession. But the ratio would be interesting. On the basis that wills are 
simple data processing, the cost should have fallen substantially. But the 
indications are the other way, with a substantial increase even over the 
present decade.

For cryonics to succeed, I suspect that there will have to be further 
revolutionary change.

-- 
Sincerely, John de Rivaz:  http://John.deRivaz.com for websites including
Cryonics Europe, Longevity Report, The Venturists, Porthtowan, Alec Harley
Reeves - inventor, Arthur Bowker - potter, de Rivaz genealogy,  Nomad .. and
more 

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