Speeches by Malthouse.

“I wanted to come in on Professor Trefzer’s information. I am a bit unclear what we are talking about. I am a layperson starting with the basics. I have just about got my head around quantum computing and I think I understand neural networks. Those two come together so, if quantum is quick and able to do things simultan…”

“No doubt we will get on to all of that. For clarity in my own mind, neuromorphic computing is not just the software, if you like. It is actually the physical substrate.”

“The chip itself is different.”

“How is it different?”

“Is it made from physically different materials?”

“Instead of a solid state, with fixed architecture on a piece of silicon, this will be something a bit like the later stages of—what is that Schwarzenegger movie where he is a robot?”

“No doubt we will get on to all of that. For clarity in my own mind, neuromorphic computing is not just the software, if you like. It is actually the physical substrate.”

“Is your prediction that, at some point in the next five years, they will be pulling the standard racks out of these data centres and putting in photonics racks?”

“No, but they can become—”

“You are answering my question.”

“I wanted to explore that subject a little further, not least because you have answered my primary question in saying that, although you might make it less power consumptive and therefore presumably less heat productive, consumption may well then rise. You might slow the growth marginally, but actually the overall impac…”

“I declare a bit of an interest, in that I have been tracking this low-orbit solar technology that we seem to be leading, along with the Japanese, where we launch solar cells into low earth orbit and it microwaves the power back to a grid sitting out in the North sea. It is on 24 hours a day. It is that kind of thing. I…”

“Forgive me if I am not understanding. My assumption was that you are saying that data moves from being a lake to being a river, or a circular river, if you like, a bit like that Diana memorial in Kensington. It is constantly circulating in the system, rather than sitting in a lake somewhere.”

“Diffuse data held in a diffuse number of devices would be good enough for the prediction machine to do what it needs to do.”

“So the mass production of the silicon, for example, or the fibre optics or the chips that are required, does not involve horrible chemicals that may be introduced into the system. It is a bit like making cement or fertiliser, which is a very dirty business. I know it is made in a laboratory, but there is no—”

“Just for clarity, I draw attention to my entry in the register. I just want to ask you a bit about the wider impact, environmentally and otherwise, of this technology. In the previous panel, we established that there are technologies out there that are going to reduce the power draw required for whatever technology the…”

“I am asking you to inform the next conversation. Which of these allied technologies is the most exciting?”

“Just for clarity, I draw attention to my entry in the register. I just want to ask you a bit about the wider impact, environmentally and otherwise, of this technology. In the previous panel, we established that there are technologies out there that are going to reduce the power draw required for whatever technology the…”

“I wanted to come in on Professor Trefzer’s information. I am a bit unclear what we are talking about. I am a layperson starting with the basics. I have just about got my head around quantum computing and I think I understand neural networks. Those two come together so, if quantum is quick and able to do things simultan…”

“I am asking you to inform the next conversation. Which of these allied technologies is the most exciting?”