And what’s the matter with bits, anyway? Are they less important than atoms?
Arguably, yes, because they are less fundamental. A revolution in our understanding of the fundamental laws of physics begets more secondary revolutions down the line; quantum mechanics alone gave us lasers, nuclear power and those very bits—to name but a few. So from a revolution in our understanding of the world comes the promise of more revolutions once that reaches the application stage. Understanding quantum gravity might lead to warp drives. But no matter how great our ability to manipulate bits, the best they generally can do (except for the possibility of AGI, I guess) is help us squeeze more efficiency out of what we have already. We feel the energy problem especially keenly right now, of course, and far from helping all that much, computers only eat up ever more energy, sometimes in rather pointless ways. A clean, cheap source of energy right now would be worth far more than all the social media in the world.
Arguably, yes, because they are less fundamental. A revolution in our understanding of the fundamental laws of physics begets more secondary revolutions down the line; quantum mechanics alone gave us lasers, nuclear power and those very bits—to name but a few. So from a revolution in our understanding of the world comes the promise of more revolutions once that reaches the application stage. Understanding quantum gravity might lead to warp drives. But no matter how great our ability to manipulate bits, the best they generally can do (except for the possibility of AGI, I guess) is help us squeeze more efficiency out of what we have already. We feel the energy problem especially keenly right now, of course, and far from helping all that much, computers only eat up ever more energy, sometimes in rather pointless ways. A clean, cheap source of energy right now would be worth far more than all the social media in the world.