The Rise and Rise of the Microchip

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The Rise and Rise of The Microchip

The story of the microchip's Cold War past, corporate present and quantum future.

Broadcaster and writer Misha Glenny tells the story of the microchip's Cold War past, corporate present and quantum future.

Inside all the world's electronic devices, there's a story of innovation but there's also a tale of espionage and the battle of nations and corporations for technological supremacy. It's the story of the microchip and it will go a long way in determining who comes out on top in what some call the new Cold War: China or the West?

The broadcaster and writer Misha Glenny takes us from a Soviet bunker on the brink of nuclear war to the inner workings of Europe's most high-tech facilities. He encounters spies, entrepreneurs and quantum conundrums en route to discovering how something that can now be as small as a single strand of DNA may determine the fate of nations and perhaps, even of humanity itself.

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The Rise and Rise of the Microchip: Quantum Leaps and Future Chips

Quantum Leaps and Future Chips

BBC Radio 4 - The Rise and Rise of the Microchip, Quantum Leaps and Future Chips

Misha Glenny explores the power of microchips to unlock the potential of future innovation in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and neurotechnology.

In our final episode, Misha Glenny explores the power of microchips to unlock the potential of future innovation in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and neurotechnology. 

The semiconductor has transformed the world as we know it, but is it on the cusp of changing what it means to be human?

This year chips took a decisive step into a new frontier, the human body, as Elon Musk’s company Neuralink successfully implanted their first brain chip. Misha speaks to Professor Henri Lorach, who helps paralysed patients walk again using brain implants, about this pioneering technology and how it could revolutionise our lives.

At the centre of the Artificial Intelligence revolution is advanced microchip technology, those chips provide the power that makes AI possible. Misha hears from AI start-up Synthesia about the opportunities and the threats for nations and citizens of creating AI generated videos and Dame Wendy Hall, a member of the United Nations advisory body on AI,  reflects on the need for regulation and strong governance of AI.   

Beyond the realms of most human comprehension lies quantum computing, the next evolutionary phase in the microchip journey. Misha speaks to startup Quantum Motion and tech giant IBM about how their quantum chips which stay colder than absolute zero/ outer space can complete tasks that take everyday computers hundreds of years in mere minutes. Yet in the wrong hands these chips could have a dark side – Misha hears from Nigel Inkster, the former director of operations for the British Secret Intelligence Service about how quantum computing could break down the world’s cryptography and cyber security and reveal top secret information previously hidden.

Presented by Misha Glenny, Rector of the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna.

Produced by Olivia Sopel and Mugabi Turya

Archive Credits:

BBC News Archive
Victoria Coren Mitchell explaining quantum chips (Source: Quantum Motion)
Rishi Sunak at the Bletchley Park, AI Summit (Source: Downing Street)

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