"drastically" as "beneficially" or "impressively"

[Victor Steinbok]

He probably meant "radically";-)

  But, on a more serious note, doesn't it mean "significantly" here?

     VS-)

On 2/20/2012 12:08 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> Referring to the creation of a single-atom transistor by a team from
> the University of New South Wales and Purdue University, John Markoff
> (who should know better) ends his article in today's NYTimes (paper;
> same online) with
>
> "Shrinking conventional computer circuitry ... drastically increases
> the amount of data they can store."
>
> I suppose we can expect dire consequences when that single atom
> decides to invoke the laws of quantum mechanics and changes its state
> unpredictably.  But perhaps the pursuit of nanophysics is more
> drastic (effectively severe, like strong medicine) than dramatic.
>
> Joel
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org