This progression is known as Moore’s law. For more than 100 years, the processing power of computers had doubled every 18 months.

Computers and the information technology that they enable are absorbing other fields. So we are seeing exponential advances in sensors, artificial intelligence, robotics, medicine, 3D printing, and so on.

Futurist Ray Kurzweil says: “As any technology becomes an information technology, it starts advancing exponentially.” That is what is happening. These technologies are also converging and making amazing and scary things possible. […]