information_battery.mdwn (995B)
1 Information battery 2 =================== 3 4 An **information battery** refers to the "storage" of surplus energy in the form of information (such as intermediate results of computation) that can be used later to lessen the need for computation. 5 6 The concept was introduced in the context of [[supercomputing]], but it has 7 also been discussed in the context of [[degrowth computing]] in 2022. It 8 mirrors the permacomputing idea of using surplus energy for slow, 9 computing-intensive tasks. 10 11 The concept emphasizes the storage of rather temporary information on a rather short-term basis. An example of a more long-term use of surplus energy for more permanent results would be the gradual optimization of software: when initially compiling a program, the compiler would only do rather lightweight optimizations, and the heavier and more computing-intensive ones would be postponed to times of abundance. 12 13 See also: 14 15 * [Original 2021 paper by Switzer and Raghavan](https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.01035)