>> Or that guy who developed genetically engineered algae that responded to 
>> electricity. The idea was that you could just "grow" your memory as 
>> large as you wanted. Near-zero manufacture cost.
>>
>> He never did quite get the prototype to work - but he came closer than 
>> you might think...
> 
> I did not hear about that

Yeah, apparently this guy discovered some algae that weakly respond to 
electric currents. He grew them in the lab and engineered them such that 
you could use a small laser to set or reset them, and a small electric 
current to determine which state a given alga cell is currently in. 
Obviously, a single living cell is pretty damn small, and they're 
densely packed in 3D space, so - assuming you can get the laser to them 
and wire them all up - *massive* storage capacity ensues.

I saw it on Tomorrow's World. (Remember that program? WHERE'S MY FLYING 
CAR, BITCH!?!) Apparently nothing ever came of it.

OTOH, many people claimed that "electricity is just a fad" and "it will 
never come to anything of signifigance". Sure, using green slime to 
store computer data might *sound* crazy - but 10 years ago, a 750 GB 
harddrive sounded pretty crazy...

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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