As conventional computing races towards the physical limits of hardware—the speed of light, the uncertainty principle, unpredictable quantum effects—researchers all over the world are working on methods that will let them continue increasing available computing power. Moore’s Law, the famous assertion that computing power available at a fixed price-point doubles every eighteen months, will not bear violation.

Though DNA, optical and quantum computers are under various stages of development, and very exciting breakthroughs are being made almost every day, we are not likely to find these highly experimental computational techniques powering the machines on our desktops any time soon. But a more prosaic approach, co