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Computing Power Drives the Future: AI and the Next Big Thing
Computing power has long grown at an exponential rate. That rapid advance has allowed digital systems to do more each year. Computer power crossed a major threshold when it made "Artificial Intelligence" driven by deep neural networks economically feasible. And huge investments are being made in ever-larger computer centers to support AI. This book challenges the assumptions behind those huge investments and explains why the generative AI that is making all the news is over-rated.
Computer power crossing a threshold allowed deep neural nets to be practical, and they have indeed been used effectively for many limited applications. Meisel discusses the "next big thing" that exponential growth in computer processing speed will allow. The book provides a realistic description of what we can expect as computer power grows ever more quickly than most past innovations, with major impacts on society, the economy, and competition between countries.
Computer power crossing a threshold allowed deep neural nets to be practical, and they have indeed been used effectively for many limited applications. Meisel discusses the "next big thing" that exponential growth in computer processing speed will allow. The book provides a realistic description of what we can expect as computer power grows ever more quickly than most past innovations, with major impacts on society, the economy, and competition between countries.
200 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 8, 2025
1 person is currently reading
About the author
William Meisel
11 books6 followersWilliam (“Bill”) Meisel’s experience combines a strong academic, technical, and business background. With a B.S. degree in Engineering from Caltech and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California, he began his career as a professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at USC. He has published over 70 papers and several books, including a technical book, Computer-Oriented Approaches to Pattern Recognition. He was the editor and a contributor to New Components and Subsystems for Digital Design; VUI Visions: Expert Views on Effective Voice User Interface Design; Speech in the User Interface: Lessons from Experience; The Software Society: Cultural and Economic Impact (2013), and Technically Dead (2015).
After working in university research, Dr. Meisel launched and managed the Computer Science Division of an aerospace company, applying pattern recognition technology to a number of application areas, including target detection and intelligence data analysis. He then founded a venture-capital-backed speech recognition company and ran it for ten years. He has been issued six patents in various areas of technology. Currently, as an industry analyst, he publishes a paid-subscription, no-ads monthly industry newsletter, Speech Strategy News, on commercial developments in speech technology and natural language interpretation. He also authors a blog, Meisel-on-Mobile. As Executive Director of the Applied Voice Input Output Society (AVIOS), a non-profit industry organization, he creates the program for AVIOS’s annual Mobile Voice Conference.
After working in university research, Dr. Meisel launched and managed the Computer Science Division of an aerospace company, applying pattern recognition technology to a number of application areas, including target detection and intelligence data analysis. He then founded a venture-capital-backed speech recognition company and ran it for ten years. He has been issued six patents in various areas of technology. Currently, as an industry analyst, he publishes a paid-subscription, no-ads monthly industry newsletter, Speech Strategy News, on commercial developments in speech technology and natural language interpretation. He also authors a blog, Meisel-on-Mobile. As Executive Director of the Applied Voice Input Output Society (AVIOS), a non-profit industry organization, he creates the program for AVIOS’s annual Mobile Voice Conference.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 12, 2025
In Computing Power Drives the Future, William Meisel offers a sharp, grounded, and deeply insightful examination of one of the most defining forces of our time, the exponential growth of computing power and its profound implications for artificial intelligence and human progress.
Rather than merely echoing the hype surrounding AI, Meisel takes a critical and informed stance, inviting readers to question the assumptions driving massive investments in generative AI. He cuts through the noise of industry buzzwords and utopian promises, grounding his analysis in technical realism and economic perspective.
Through clear explanations and thoughtful foresight, Meisel traces how computing power reached the threshold that made deep neural networks feasible, and why this milestone, while revolutionary, is far from the final chapter in AI’s story. He shifts focus to the next big thing: the emerging frontiers that continued computational acceleration will unlock, potentially redefining industries, nations, and human capability itself.
What makes this book compelling is its balance, it neither glorifies nor dismisses AI, but rather contextualizes it as one stage in an ongoing technological evolution. Meisel writes with precision, lucidity, and a sense of responsibility, offering readers, from tech professionals to policy thinkers, a realistic yet inspiring vision of what’s coming next.
Rather than merely echoing the hype surrounding AI, Meisel takes a critical and informed stance, inviting readers to question the assumptions driving massive investments in generative AI. He cuts through the noise of industry buzzwords and utopian promises, grounding his analysis in technical realism and economic perspective.
Through clear explanations and thoughtful foresight, Meisel traces how computing power reached the threshold that made deep neural networks feasible, and why this milestone, while revolutionary, is far from the final chapter in AI’s story. He shifts focus to the next big thing: the emerging frontiers that continued computational acceleration will unlock, potentially redefining industries, nations, and human capability itself.
What makes this book compelling is its balance, it neither glorifies nor dismisses AI, but rather contextualizes it as one stage in an ongoing technological evolution. Meisel writes with precision, lucidity, and a sense of responsibility, offering readers, from tech professionals to policy thinkers, a realistic yet inspiring vision of what’s coming next.
November 25, 2025
Computing Power Drives the Future: AI and the Next Big Thing is a commanding, sharply reasoned, and profoundly insightful work that cuts through hype and reorients the reader toward what truly drives technological transformation: exponential growth in computing power. William Meisel brings an authoritative voice and rare clarity to a subject often clouded by jargon and sensationalism. His critique of generative AI is bold and refreshingly evidence-based, while his exploration of the next breakthrough, what expanding computational capacity will actually unlock, is both intellectually electrifying and deeply grounded. This is not simply a book about technology; it is a strategic, forward-looking analysis that challenges assumptions, reframes narratives, and illuminates the path ahead for global innovation.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews