Landauer limit
The Landauer limit is the least energy it takes to erase one bit of information. Rolf Landauer (1961) showed it’s at least kT ln 2, about 3 × 10-21 joules at room temperature.
The Power tile multiplies the computing needed by this figure to get watts, then shows the result in solar luminosities. The most efficient hardware measured gives off about five billion times the limit per operation.
The Power tile multiplies the computing needed by the Landauer limit to get heat output, then shows it in Suns. Even with perfect hardware, a simulation this size has to give off at least this much heat somewhere. The most efficient hardware measured gives off about five billion times more per operation.
14 short pages, one per thinker, each with its matching dial. See also the reading list.