Monoliths

The Universal Aspect Ratio

Hello from Morningside! Monoliths in 2001, A Space Odyssey bear an uncanny resemblance to our favored interfaces. The 9:19.5 aspect ratio of iPhones is just shy of the two larger dimensions of these alien machines, which are 1:4:9. Obviously, they’re quite a bit skinnier than that, but perhaps iPhones ought actually to be thicker to attain their perfect form — when AI applications become so essential that our edge devices require powerful GPUs and the battery capacity to support them.

Eventually those might give way to quantum GPUs and much larger interfaces capable of inducing interstellar travel and interacting with the very genetic code of alien species, never straying from the optimal 1:4:9 ratio. Indeed, I firmly believe Arthur C. Clarke inadvertently happened across the fundamental optimal ratio of compute width to interface size for the Universe we live in, and Apple soon will too.