Moore's Law

Biological Parallel

Exponential growth is biology's default mode. E. coli bacteria double every 20 minutes under ideal conditions—1 cell becomes 2, becomes 4, becomes 8—following the same 2^n pattern Moore observed in transistor density. Yeast in a test tube exhibits the classic S-curve: exponential growth until nutrients deplete, then growth plateaus at carrying capacity. Cancer cells exploit this pattern catastrophically—unchecked doubling until physical constraints (blood supply, space, immune response) impose limits. Moore's Law succeeded for 50 years because semiconductor manufacturing kept removing constraints (smaller wavelengths, better materials), but quantum effects and heat dissipation now create fundamental physical ceilings—just as nutrient depletion stops bacterial growth. The math is identical: multiplicative growth until constraints intervene.