Moore’s Law has been slowing for a while. But the U.S. industry that exploits it has finally recognized that it is about to die.

The Semiconductor Industry Association—made up of the likes of Intel, AMD, and Global Foundries—has published the 2015 International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors. It suggests that, after decades of miniaturization, transistors look set to stop shrinking in size altogether by 2021. After that date, the report claims, it will not be economically efficient to reduce the size of silicon transistors any further.

The prediction is an acknowledgment that Moore’s Law—which states that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years—isn't simply slowing. It’s grinding to a halt.

Earlier this year, Intel announced that it was slowing down the pace of chip advancement and pushing back the release of its smallest-ever transistor technology—made up of features as small as 10 nanometers—from 2016 to 2017. In fact Intel has already warned that conventional silicon transistors could only keep shrinking for another five years.

Record temperatures in the first half of 2016 have taken scientists by surprise despite widespread recognition that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense, the director of the World Climate Research Program said.

The earth is on track for its hottest year on record with June marking the 14th straight month of record heat, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said last week.

Temperatures recorded mainly in the northern hemisphere in the first six months of the year, coupled with an early and fast Arctic sea ice melt and "new highs" in heat-trapping carbon dioxide levels, point to quickening climate change, it said.

Humans have used up a full year’s worth of Earth’s ecological resources in just over seven months, its fastest rate ever, according to an annual environmental report.

“Earth overshoot day”, marks the date at which humanity’s demand on the planet exceeds that which it can regenerate in a year. This year it will fall on Monday 8 August, its earliest date yet.

Earth overshoot day is calculated by the international think tank Global Footprint Network, which measures the world’s demand for resources against ecosystems’ ability to supply them.

Earth overshoot day is calculated by the international think tank Global Footprint Network, which measures the world’s demand for resources against ecosystems’ ability to supply them.

However, the speed at which we are depleting resources has dropped, the network said.

If it tells me anything, it means that they have no idea what they are talking about.

In a statement, Global Footprint Network said: “The rate at which Earth Overshoot Day has moved up on the calendar has slowed to less than one day a year on average over the past five years, compared to an average of three days a year since the overshoot began in the 1970s.”

So it sounds like GFN was saying the rate at which the resources are depleted (however they measure it -- it looks very involved) is increasing more slowly than it had been. Which makes sense. And it would look like the author of the article made an oops and confused an acceleration for a speed.

What will happen to the “Earth overshoot day" if the amount of things we "consume" will exceed the capacity of planet, say, twice. A "TWICE overshoot day"?

If consumption is equals the capacity for that year, then it lands on December 31. If consumption is twice the capacity, then it lands on June 30th. If 10 times capacity, then February 5th.

I think calculating something like the biocapacity of the planet is a tall order, sure, but their methods look rather rigorous and the metric they devised seems to be a functional one.

Greenhouse gas emissions account for 60 per cent of humanity’s ecological footprint

I really think we need to stop polluting and destroying Earth, we are destroying ourselves by doing so

Then it might explain why the speed with which that day is moving forward is slowing down - the law of inverse numbers. Past June 30th it will move twice as slow as at December 31 even if the rate would remain constant. However, it is not a biggest problem.

Something will change, new equilibria will be found.

So we are supposed to leave Earth?

Then we should stop eating meat, because it pollutes the environment because it releases methane and whatnot, might buy us time.