nanoscale views: Memristors - how fundamental, and how useful?

nanoscale views: Memristors - how fundamental, and how useful?: "I would maintain that this is conceptually very different and less fundamental than the resistor, capacitor, or inductor elements. The resistor is the simplest possible relationship between current and voltage; the capacitor and inductor have a dual relationship and each involve energy storage in electromagnetic fields. The memristor does not have a deep connection to electromagnetism - it is one particular example of the general 'mem'device, which has a complex electrical impedance that depends on the current/voltage history of the device. Indeed, my friend Max di Ventra has, with a colleague, written a review of the general case, which can be said to include 'memcapacitors' and 'meminductors'. The various memgizmos are certainly fun to think about, and in their simplest implementation have great potential for certain applications, such as nonvolatile memory."