• floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    7 days ago

    This has nothing to do with retro technology. This is about thinking “is using binary really the most efficient way to run every computation we need to do?”, which is really relevant today.

      • floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        7 days ago

        With “binary” I mean “has two states”, as in discrete, as in digital. You can represent binary bits using analog circuits, but it doesn’t make those circuits binary/digital. Likewise, you can represent continuous, analog functions using discrete logic, but it will always be an approximation. What makes these chips different is that they are able to not only represent but actually model continuous functions and values, like physical models.

          • floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            7 days ago

            No offense taken! I just believe that a subtle difference does not mean unimportant and wanted to be precise. I didn’t take you as someone who doesn’t understand analog and digital, especially considering your instance :) I edited my previous comment for some additional clarity. I just think they’re neat ^^

      • Frezik@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        7 days ago

        That doesn’t contradict anything above.

        There’s a company pushing their hybrid analog/digital chip for real use cases. I dunno if it’s going to be successful, but it’s not retro.