Beyond the Last Computer

Editor's note: The paper summarised below was excerpted from a lecture delivered by Dr. Philip Emeagwali at The University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago, on June 8 2008. The entire transcript and video are posted at the author's website.

This futuristic perspective on the meaning and impact of the internet was inspired by the experiences of the author - a former child soldier who became a celebrated mathematical physicist - in creating a supercomputer. He discusses the thinking that informed his solution to this "grand challenge", which involved merging the laws of physics, logic, and numbers in 16-dimensional mathematical space. Dr. Emeagwali solved the problem by attacking it from three perspectives: First, he harnessed the power of processors to perform myriad computations. Second, he followed a minimum number of communication pathways to perform a minimum number of communications. Third, he enforced the Second Law of Motion in models of all that flows underneath the Earth. "In my new technique, my 65,536 processors perform computations side by side, linked by 16 wires, each corresponding to the 16 sides of a 16-dimensional hypercube. This is the essence of 'higher' mathematics: go beyond calculus and mine infinite dimensional spaces....Has there ever been any technology as gorgeously complicated as the hypercube supercomputer? For me, it was love at first sight. It was hypercubic elegance that engaged me emotionally, imaginatively and computationally."

Reflecting on his discovery, Dr. Emeagwali urges that "Each one of us must learn to move outside our comfort zones. We learn with each step we take into the unknown. When I was five, my father discovered that I was slow in mathematics. He decided to teach me to solve 100 math problems in one hour. Thereafter, my ability to do rapid calculations...set me on the path to become a supercomputer scientist who solved one of the most difficult problems in mathematics." With knowledge and new techniques, he claims, humankind can achieve emancipation. The key is that "crossing the frontiers of knowledge to conquer tomorrow's grand challenges will demand revolutionary" thinking.

Dr. Emeagwali presents his vision of the future, which is based on the observation that "the supercomputer is more about communication than computation. The supercomputer and the Internet link computation and communication into a congruent whole - two complementary sides of a coin. As the computer evolves into the supercomputer, and the supercomputer evolves into the Internet, and the Internet evolves into humanity, all that will remain will be a HyperBall superbrain - an electronic, organic Web 10,000 miles in diameter encompassing the Earth. The nodes will be people, embedded in an interconnected network of humanity working as one." In short, he asserts that "One day, the Internet will become our shared planet-sized supercomputer and individuals will become nodes on the Internet and the Internet, as we know it, will become obsolete and 'disappear' into our collective memory..."