MK ATLAS· Science Atlas

In the Making — Things Not Yet Settled

A quantum computer will solve everything; fusion will make electricity free; AI is about to overtake us. Each piece here begins with a sentence people already believe, draws the line between where it is true and where it is inflated, and traces the technology back to the old idea it stands on. The day a thing is finished, it leaves this series and becomes history.

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Leg 1 · A Quantum Computer Will Solve Everything — How Much of That Is True?

  1. 11994Peter Shor / The quantum algorithm
  2. 21926Schrödinger

Leg 2 · AI Is a Power Hog — So What Is the Answer?

  1. 31947Bardeen, Brattain, Shockley · The transistor
  2. 42007CUDA · Repurposing the graphics chip

Leg 3 · The Brain Runs on Twenty Watts — Will Copying It Cut the Power?

  1. 51800Volta · The battery
  2. 62012Hinton's group · Deep learning

Leg 4 · A Room-Temperature Superconductor Will Change the World — The Three Technologies That Live at Minus 269

  1. 71851Lord Kelvin · Absolute temperature
  2. 81827Georg Ohm · Ohm's law

Leg 5 · Fusion Will Make Electricity Free — What Abundant Energy Can and Cannot Do

  1. 91909Fritz Haber · Ammonia synthesis
  2. 101824Sadi Carnot

Updated 2026-09-14