Are We In The New Stone Age?

 Yash Yagnik


Professor Horgan


HST 401


29 January 2025


Are We In The New Stone Age?


Imagine standing at the brink of the 20th century, holding a stone tool in your hand, oblivious to the industrial revolutions and technological wonders that lie ahead. That’s where we are today with microchips. Smaller than your fingernail, these powerful squares of silicon are the engines powering artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and cloud computing. And yet, few of us truly grasp their full potential or understand how they’ll shape not just our technology but our day-to-day lives. 


Often underestimated, microchips are the backbone of AI R&D. Originally these microchips or GPUs were designed for rendering video game graphics by companies like Nvidia. Their ability to perform parallel computations makes them ideal for training deep-learning models that can analyze a variety of complex tasks, from interpreting medical scans to forecasting stock market trends.


Consider this: OpenAI’s ChatGPT, an AI model trained to generate human-like text, relies on around 30,000 GPUs to process billions of parameters—adjustable values that act as the model’s internal guidelines for understanding and generating patterns in text. Microchips, like Nvidia’s GPUs also drive innovation in companies like Netflix and Amazon, optimizing streaming, logistics, and customer experiences while redefining how businesses operate. Without innovations in microchip technology, these breakthroughs in AI and ML would be the biggest unanswered what if? In the history of technology.


But what do microchips mean for people who don’t own these multi-billion dollar businesses? It’s a question I asked myself and the answer only fueled my excitement surrounding these microchips. They are making technology more intuitive and accessible for everyday individuals: meaning smarter devices, real-time translations, personalized healthcare, and self-driving cars. The combination of AI and cloud computing, powered by microchips, redefines how we live and work. Take healthcare, for example. AI-powered diagnostics, running on microchip-enhanced systems, are helping doctors detect diseases like cancer earlier and more accurately. Wearable devices like smartwatches, equipped with advanced chips, monitor heart rates, and oxygen levels, and even detect irregular heartbeats. Education is another area of opportunity for redefinition. Imagine personalized learning platforms that adapt in real-time after analyzing a student’s strengths and weaknesses, all fueled by AI leveraging microchips. 


Microchips, despite their incredible potential, face major challenges. Manufacturing them is complex, requiring materials like silicon wafers, extreme ultraviolet lithography, and a global supply chain prone to disruption. Cost once thought to be the biggest barrier—was recently solved. ByteDance (TikTok’s parent company) poured $12 billion into microchip development, with 40% reportedly going to Nvidia for AI-specific chips. Meanwhile, the $500 billion CHIPS Act, signed during the Trump administration, set out to boost domestic semiconductor production, with a large chunk likely going to Nvidia and other industry leaders. However, on January 20, 2025, the world learned about DeepSeek, a Chinese company that built an AI model capable of competing with OpenAI, Google, and Meta while only having a budget of $6 million. Within 24 hours, the U.S. stock market lost nearly $1 trillion, and Nvidia alone saw its market cap drop by $600 billion. DeepSeek’s success was fueled by non-U.S. chip manufacturers due to Trump’s export restrictions, their success destroying both microchip giants and my Robinhood account. But now money doesn’t seem to be the problem, and it’s forcing companies to rethink how they use their allocated budget to further develop microchips.

With such drastically reduced costs for cutting-edge AI development, the natural next step is to hone advancements into areas like cloud computing, where the scalability and accessibility of technology can transform not just companies but entire industries overnight. However, not everyone would agree with this optimistic view of progress. Stephen Hawking, in his essay "Is the end in sight for theoretical physics?", argued that theoretical physics may be facing a bottleneck, suggesting that humanity might soon hit a wall in understanding the fundamental workings of the universe. Similarly, John Horgan, in his column "The Delusion of Scientific Omniscience," questions the idea that science can solve every mystery, presenting a more sobering perspective: there are limits to what we can achieve or know.


Yet, while these arguments highlight the boundaries of human understanding, they also point to the practical ways science and technology can still drive improvement while not “understanding the universe”. "Horgan, for instance, acknowledges that while science may not 'provide a final theory of everything,' it has immense value in addressing tangible problems and improving everyday life." The microchip revolution exemplifies this perfectly. By advancing AI, cloud computing, and related technologies, microchips continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in fields like healthcare, communications, and energy efficiency. 


Regardless of the corporate wars that will precede Deepseek and other companies like it, microchips will be at the center of every piece of technology, enabling breakthroughs in fields as diverse as medicine, education, and entertainment. We may be in the stone age of this microchip-powered century, but the future is dazzlingly bright. Imagine a world where your devices not only respond to your needs but anticipate them, where technology works so seamlessly that it feels like magic. In this silicon revolution, companies like Nvidia DeepSeek are leading the charge, building the tools that will shape the next chapter of human evolution. And while microchip innovations may not answer the ultimate mysteries of existence, they spark the curiosity of asking, what’s next?


Sources:

Hawking, S. (2010). Is the end in sight for theoretical physics? Cambridge University.


Horgan, J. (2015). The delusion of scientific omniscience. John Horgan’s Blog.


Nvidia. (2025). Nvidia Blackwell platform arrives to power a new era of computing. Retrieved from https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-blackwell-platform-arrives-to-power-a-new-era-of-computing


Smith, J. (2024). The AI revolution in medicine. Stanford Journal of Technology.


Reuters. (2025). What is DeepSeek, and why is it disrupting the AI sector? Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/what-is-deepseek-why-is-it-disrupting-ai-sector-2025-01-27/


AWS. (n.d.). Cloud computing and microchip integration. AWS Whitepapers.

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