Welcome to Machine Elegant . On this blog, I plan to discuss topics of a technical nature, including news articles, projects and big ideas. And now for some news... Engineering professor Nader Engheta and his team have demonstrated a metamaterial device that can function as an analog computer, validating an earlier theory about 'photonic calculus.' We are living in exciting times for anyone who tracks technological progress. We are making rapid strides on all fronts and the pace of progress is being accelerated by recent progress. An obvious example is silicon-based computer technology which has created a "virtuous circle" whereby advances in computers are being used to design and build the next generation of computers. But this same phenomenon is occurring in many domains and it is beginning to "cross-breed", that is, advances in traditionally unrelated domains are beginning to produce speed-ups in one another. Quantum computing (QC) is getting a l