From one of the internet's tiny treasures, Delancey Place, August 31:
Today's selection -- from The Metaverse by Matthew Ball.
The growth of the metaverse, among other things, means that the need for more computing power will grow at overwhelming rates. How will this need be met? The answer may come from your own willingness to let others use the idle processing power of your own laptop:
"The insatiable need for more processing power -- ideally, located as close as possible to the user but, at the very least, in nearby industrial server farms -- invariably leads to a third option: decentralized computing. With so many powerful and often inactive devices in the homes and hands of consumers, near other homes and hands, it feels inevitable that we'd develop systems to share in their mostly idle processing power."Culturally, at least, the idea of collectively shared but privately owned infrastructure is already well understood. Anyone who installs solar panels at their home can sell excess power to their local grid (and, indirectly, to their neighbor). Elon Musk touts a future in which your Tesla earns you rent as a self-driving car when you're not using it yourself -- better than just being parked in your garage for 99% of its life....
....MUCH MORE
