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Future Computers Will Be Radically Different (Analog Computing)

Veritasium · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Computer architecture & CPUsMachine learning & deep learningScientific method & science communication

What it is

Veritasium explains why analog computing may suit AI workloads, covering old analog computers, The Analog Thing and Mythic's analog chips that use flash memory for neural network inference. It argues digital hardware is hitting limits.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Treated as the accessible reference on analog computing for neural nets, especially the Mythic AI segment.

  • 7 people recommended it
  • 5 different months
  • 1 strong recommendations
  • first 2022, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “suddenly enough a Vertiasium video pops up and about everything just slots into place”

    Made neural networks click when other resources failed

    iKlsR, 2022-03 · Strong recommendation · in “Ask HN: What concepts have you never truly understood?”

  2. “here's two youtube videos that explain is much better than I could.”

    Explains analog hardware for matrix operations better than commenter could

    cultofmetatron, 2022-03 · Recommendation · in “Ask HN: What is your take on carbon emissions of Machine Learning”

  3. “Great Veritasium video on YouTube about analog neuromorphic architectures and their promise for lower-power operations”

    Covers analog neuromorphic architectures and low-power promise

    beambot, 2022-06 · Recommendation · in “Physicists are building neural networks out of vibrations, voltages and lasers”

  4. “Veritasium has two great videos on it”

    Overview of analog AI research

    woojoo666, 2022-06 · Recommendation · in “Photonic Chip Performs Image Recognition at the Speed of Light”

  5. “I found this Veritasium video interesting, about a company that is paring down models so they fit on analog chips”

    Shows shrinking models to fit analog chips for self-contained devices

    JieJie, 2023-03 · Recommendation · in “Richard Stallman's thoughts on ChatGPT, AI and their impact on humanity”

  6. “Veritasium has a good video about analog computers.”

    Covers how analog works, uses, pros and cons, history, future

    sholladay, 2024-08 · Recommendation · in “What Is Analog Computing?”

  7. “Veritasium explains it really well in general here (and demos the device)”

    Clear explanation of analog computers plus device demo

    sushid, 2024-11 · Recommendation · in “The Analog Thing: Analog Computing for the Future”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: analog computers, neural networks, mythic ai, in-memory compute, veritasium

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