Low Resource Computing

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Dartmouth College

Hanover, NH

August 16-19, 2026

lrc-group@dartmouth.edu

Looking Back, Looking Forward

Computation started as a puzzle. We built national banking systems using 92kIPS<br>microprocessors. We built rendering engines using a PDP-8 and a DAC. We flew to the<br>moon with a 2MHz CPU, a slide rule, and a dream. The resources behind these<br>accomplishments look modest only in hindsight. What is trivial now was enough then.

Somewhere along the way, we lost sight of this goal. Software wastes hardware because<br>it can afford to do so. We use Electron, wrangling the whole Chrome V8 engine, just to<br>edit text; we ask gigawatt data centers what the weather will be tomorrow. It's a<br>competition to see how much compute and money we can throw at our problems before they<br>fix themselves. Exascale datacenters keep growing, gigawatt compute farms keep<br>chugging more electricity, and billion-dollar networks keep asking for more money.<br>It's a race to the bottom, and other than being boring and expensive, it's impossible<br>to keep growing like this forever.

This year, LRC is looking at the past as an inspiration for the future. As mainstream<br>computers hog more and more resources, meaningful computation remains essential at the<br>scale of kilobytes, kilohertz, and nanowatts. This workshop is all about countering<br>the fad of infinite growth, it's about putting processing power back in individuals'<br>hands, and it's about contributing to a more reasonable and sustainable future. How<br>far can today's modest resources really go?

Let's find out.