This article was taken from the March 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
We are on the verge of a revolution. It's a technological, social and cultural revolution called infinite computing. Infinite computing is the confluence of three trends: an exponential increase in available computing power; access to that power; and the precipitous fall in the cost of that power. Today, computing is the least expensive resource we can throw at a problem. And when one combines these trends with the scalability that we can now access via the cloud, we can deploy hundreds, even thousands, of computers to help solve the growing number of challenges we face as designers, engineers and artists today.
Every year we produce more computing power than in the sum of all prior years. We are at the point where we have more computing power than we can effectively use. But this overabundance is not defining an end or glut, but a beginning.
Most of the world that surrounds us -- the designed world -- is the result of "in the box" thinking, limited by computing. Up until now, computing has been a precious resource, but with cloud computing we are gaining access to virtually limitless power at near-zero cost. We are also experiencing a new economic model: a problem that takes one CPU 10,000 seconds to solve costs about 16p.
But with the scalability of the cloud, we can apply 10,000 CPUs to the same problem and they will solve it in a second. Solving the problem 10,000 times faster still costs 16p. Being able to apply infinitely more resources to a problem for no additional cost is a first in history.
As an example, today we use computers mostly to design and engineer things in a serial fashion -- propose and dispose. We try out one design, test it and go back and redesign it again based on what we learned. Yet with the power of infinite computing, rather than try out designs one at a time, designers and engineers can explore many different options concurrently with no physical-world risks or costs. The value of computing power is not simply that it accelerates design and reduces costs, though both are true. The value is that it can extrapolate, mutate and mash up an infinite number of designs simultaneously. The process now becomes one in which we guide the computer. By changing our toolset and mindset, we can now work at a more effective level of abstraction, allowing us to pursue answers to questions such as "How can I make this product as strong and light as possible?" This opens up the creation of products, structures and systems that would not have been possible before.
Taking that a step further, since computing power is infinite and free, we can ask the computer to participate in the creative act of the design process. Generative design mixes our human creativity with the computer's ability to iterate easily on a mathematical theme. It lets us explore forms that are difficult for us to conceive and in quantities that would be impossible to process. Human and computer can jam together, with the designer as ultimate creative arbiter: when the computer strikes just the right chord (which it cannot distinguish from the previous dissonant one it suggested), the designer says, "That's it!"
Designers and engineers are facing an explosion of increasing complexity: designing more things than ever, with each of the things being designed increasing in sophistication and intricacy.
Cars are faster, yet burn less fuel; are quieter, more comfortable, yet lighter and made of more kinds of materials, with vast arrays of options and features. Consumers are demanding more variety, sophistication of design and quality from the things they buy. And in the future they will --increasingly expect to be able to express their own creativity, taking an active role in the creation of the objects that
--urround their lives. By embracing this complexity, designers and engineers can apply the power of infinite computing and meet these challenges head-on to create the buildings, products, stories and
experiences of our future.
Carl Bass is CEO of Autodesk Inc, a California-based innovation firm that is one of the world's leading 3D-design, engineering and entertainment-software companies.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
