The magazine archive includes every article published in Communications of the ACM for over the past 50 years.

Over the next few decades, two emerging technologies—microfabrication and cellular engineering—will make it possible to assemble systems incorporating myriads of information-processing units at almost no cost, provided all units need not work correctly and that there is no need to manufacture precise geometrical arrangements among them. The shift to this technology will precipitate fundamental changes in methods for constructing and programming computers, and in our view computation itself.Microelectronic mechanical components have become so inexpensive to manufacture we can anticipate integrating logic circuits, microsensors, actuators, and communications devices on the same chip to produce particles that could be mixed with bulk materials, such as paints, gels, and concrete. Imagine coating bridges and buildings with smart paint that senses and reports on traffic and wind loads and monitors structural integrity. A smart-paint coating on a wall could sense vibrations, monitor the premises for intruders, and cancel noise.