Computing on a Blade of Grass
Imagine if you will, re-engineering common lawn grass to do computing! Some might think I'm smoking it when I propose this innovative idea, but it's really scientifically sound, albeit futuristic.
Each blade of grass takes its power from the sun through the process of photosynthesis and uses part of that power to do computing tasks, the remainder powers normal life sustaining processes of the plant as it does today. The lawn then communicates the computing results to a central multiplexer-coordinator of sorts (possibly even wireless, this part is of course technically unclear at this time) networked into the house computer systems, results flowing into the national and finally the global computing grids.
The technology specifics of what it would take to create this engineering marvel of genetic modification and nano engineering is beyond our current technological understanding at this time, but just.
Imagining the implications of having available such cheap "really green" computing power is extremely captivating. Enough so as to go out on a limb writing this post. Computing power you can grow from a seed packet power by the sun, with the only requirement being to make sure the lawn is watered regularly. Something most of us already do. You might have to stop mowing the lawn, as it would reduce computing power . . .
Farm Computing
Imagine a future in which whole fields of computing crops, farm computing, to just coin a new phrase. Ultimately this would be a more sustaining transformed Earth, a living computing “Pandora-like” planet of sorts. Imagine that!
For now it is only an idea of a rambling futurist Michael Blade.