The future of computing - new architectures and new technologies. Part 1 Biology versus silicon

Current computing architectures and technologies have been enormously successful in changing our ways of working and living. Yet all technologies have their limitations, and there are many computing problems which demand a new approach. The article looks at how new insight from biology and new organic and inorganic computing substrates could change the face of computing. New technologies, based on molecular and biological sciences as well as quantum physics, are vying to replace silicon, or at least coexist with it and extend its capability. The article describes these novel architectures and technologies, places them in the context of the kinds of problems they might help to solve, and predicts their possible manner and time of adoption.