How far can we push computing?

My article How far can we push computing? is out in MIT Technology Review.

This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot throughout my PhD over the last six years. Is there a way to unify technologies across fields with a common set of fundamental specifications? In my thesis (Gurses, 2026), I developed such a framework for both classical and quantum technologies, comparing their performance with the physical limits that bound them. It turns out we are still far away. In these comparisons, today’s computer chips sit 35 orders of magnitude from the quantum speed limit, nearly 30 from the Bekenstein limit on memory, more than five from the Landauer limit on energy and about six from the Holevo limit on communication.

The opportunity lies in understanding how far we can close these gaps and in developing new technologies that approach these limits at scale. Building more chips and shrinking transistors both start from the systems we already have. I see a third direction. Start with physics experiments that operate at or near fundamental limits, then build scalable systems that preserve their performance. In turn, these systems can become physics experiments themselves, allowing us to probe the laws that guided their development. Along the way, we may discover new limits and new physics that shape the next generation of technologies, continuing the cycle between physics and engineering.

One thing is clear. There is still plenty of room at the bottom.