Moore's Law
Origin
A 4-page article by Moore in Electronics Magazine in 1965 — three years before Intel was founded (1968). Extrapolating from seven years of data, Moore predicted "transistor count doubles annually", later refined in 1975 to "every two years". For the next 50 years, it held almost exactly — one man's extrapolation became a half-century industry's self-fulfilling prophecy.
Meaning
Why Moore's Law became a promise, not just an observation — every semiconductor firm aligned R&D timelines and capital to this pace. Those who fell behind lost market share. The greatest case of self-fulfilling prophecy. Slowing in the 2020s as quantum limits approach, but the 50-year curve is unmatched in industrial history.
Lesson — Meeting Eastern Classics
Analects 1.1: "Is it not a delight to learn and rehearse?" Confucius taught the accumulation of time, the multiplication of practice. Moore's Law industrially proved that learning's accumulation can be exponential. 1% better each day = 37× in a year.
"倍" combines person (人) with sound (咅) — originally "doubled, multiplied". Analects: "Each day I examine myself three times." Small daily reviews accumulate as 倍. Moore's Law is the industrial poem of 倍.
