Smart matter! So far we've only really been able to make smart paper (all chips are basically 2D). I remember reading in Stephenson's Diamond Age about a brick of compute, when I understood what it was it blew my mind...
A solid brick of compute would have to run pretty slow, square chips have the surface area for heat removal.
That's not necessarily a problem if the cost of fabbing logic drops enough. It actually could make a lot of sense: throw more and more transistors and solving problems higher up the stack but use them with a lower duty cycle to avoid thermal issues. We may end up living in a world build of logic bricks, gently throwing off heat and solved problems while hiding as structural or aesthetic components.
If we’re talking science function anyway, could it be a superconductor at room temperature? Or would it be impossible to build logic out of that?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversible_computing#Reversibi...