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u1hcw9nxyesterday at 8:46 PM2 repliesview on HN

If you go far beyond nanoseconds, energy becomes a limiting factor. You can only achieve ultra-fast processing if you dedicate vast amounts of matter to heat dissipation and energy generation. Think on a galactic scale: you cannot have even have molecular reaction speeds occurring at femtosecond or attosecond speeds constantly and everywhere without overheating everything.


Replies

lisperyesterday at 8:51 PM

Maybe. It's not clear whether these are fundamental limits or merely technological ones. Reversible (i.e. infinitely efficient) computing is theoretically possible.

UltraSaneyesterday at 11:54 PM

If you have a black hole as an infinite heat sink this helps a great deal.