Stop thinking of it as a light switch and start thinking of it as a light dimmer. There's off completely, there's dim, and there's bright.

Instead of just off and on, you can think of it as "off", "setting 1", and "setting 2".

@Exilement: three setting transistors wouldn't just allow us to store more in less space, it would also make flash memory far cheaper.

Why not skip off to Quadrinary?

Its more logical, as an even number.

Quote from MoD

Why not skip off to Quadrinary?

Its more logical, as an even number.

One step at a time, man. First we need to develop an effective 3-mode transistor, then we can move along to a 4-mode one.

and then get a Septenary(7) system. cuz seven is awesome. and it's not too much of a stretch.

There's a point where adding too many modes to a transistor will make it too fragile for active use. 4 is enough, and will be enough for tens of years most likely.