Georgia Tech eyes Chaos computer

A new computing technique that uses a network of chaotic elements to "evolve" its answers could provide an alternative to the digital computing systems of today, says William L. Ditto, professor of physics at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He described this "dynamics-based computation" may be suited for optical computing using ultra-fast chaotic lasers and computing with silicon/neural tissue hybrid circuitry last month in Physical Review Letters. "We have shown that this can be done, but we`ve only seen the tip of the iceberg," he says. - J.R.