Looking Back, Looking Forward

Computation started as a puzzle. We built national banking systems using 92kIPS microprocessors. We built rendering engines using a PDP-8 and a DAC. We flew to the moon with a 2MHz CPU, a slide rule, and a dream. The resources behind these accomplishments look modest only in hindsight. What is trivial now was enough then.

Somewhere along the way, we lost sight of this goal. Software wastes hardware because it can afford to do so. We use Electron, wrangling the whole Chrome V8 engine, just to edit text; we ask gigawatt data centers what the weather will be tomorrow. It's a competition to see how much compute and money we can throw at our problems before they fix themselves. Exascale datacenters keep growing, gigawatt compute farms keep chugging more electricity, and billion-dollar networks keep asking for more money. It's a race to the bottom, and other than being boring and expensive, it's impossible to keep growing like this forever.

This year, LRC is looking at the past as an inspiration for the future. As mainstream computers hog more and more resources, meaningful computation remains essential at the scale of kilobytes, kilohertz, and nanowatts. This workshop is all about countering the fad of infinite growth, it's about putting processing power back in individuals' hands, and it's about contributing to a more reasonable and sustainable future. How far can today's modest resources really go?
Let's find out.