The world’s fastest supercomputer is back in America

[Madmick]

I don't know. I think the Chinese slave workers still got us beat on that.

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/magazine/17lootfarmers-t.html

I want to read an update of this article now that virtual WoW gold is worth 7x the Venezuelan Bolivar in terms of real purchasing power.

 

[JonesBones]

You don't hear much about IBM anymore unless you really follow the industry but they are still doing big things obviously.

 

[Chad R. Thundercock]

I want to read an update of this article now that virtual WoW gold is worth 7x the Venezuelan Bolivar in terms of real purchasing power.

They've probably moved onto something bigger like cryptocurrency mining by now.

Fun fact: I went to Watson School of Engineering at Binghamton University to study Computer Engineering. It was named after the chairman of IBM, Thomas J. Watson. Just sharing this for no reason at all.

 

[PolishHeadlock]

Spoiler

Relax. I'm in agreement with you. I'm entitled to a bit of fun. This was going much better than the last time until you showed up, stinker.

For those who don't understand what the second two paragraphs were communicating, it was an allusion to how supercomputers are no longer really a matter of architectural rivalry, in terms of the sophistication of the designs, as it was during the height of the Cray vs. IBM rivalry of the 90's, but a race of parallel processing, reflecting the cheaper throw-cores-at-the-wall strategy popular with Chinese semiconductor upstarts, where they link together as many possible CPU clusters as they can onto a single football field in order to claim the top spot. So it's a bit of a dick-measuring contest.

For that reason the supercomputer race in some ways reminds me of that major reveal of Elon's magical battery pack in his Tesla cars. Everyone was expecting some groundbreaking technology, but instead it was really a refinement of previously existing battery technology, just with a ton of these batteries linked together in the trunk.

The TOP500 really is a measurement of business power more than technological proficiency, because the revenue to build these things is always going to be drawn from a combination of sectors, but more typically public investment, but of course public investment is predicated on tax revenue, and that is strongly correlated with a country's GDP, and directly with its business garnishments.

More saliently, almost all supercomputers are so expensive, and answer such a narrow need, that very few of them are privately owned at all. In fact, one of the questions I don't know the answer to off the top of my head is the last time-- if ever-- a privately owned supercomputer held the #1 position. Off the top of my head, the most powerful one I can think of that I know was purely owned privately was none other than Deep Blue, which beat Kasparov, and IIRC it was only the 16th most powerful in terms of FLOP power when it was created. That isn't what set it apart.

This is a sobering truth for any conservative. It challenges the heart of the philosophical conviction that the private sector is always best suited to answer a need. There is almost no private entity large enough to own one that would have a need for it. Interesting quandary, indeed.

While, unlike you, I did unironically support corporate tax reform, like you, I did not support the latest budget. I weary of this sudden zeitgeist among conservatives where we superstitiously attribute economic windfalls where there are none. When the economy was strong under Obama, around where I live, I often heard the pro-Trump voters echo the pro-Bernie voters with comments like, "That's Wall Street, not Main Street." Main street is definitely doing a bit better, at the moment, and kudos to Trump for this, but I can't remember the last time I heard a Hannity fan reference the Labor Force Participation Rate, or crow that the sky is falling because of the expanding debt or debt-to-GDP ratio. Apparently the worries of the inflation-to-wage ratio also suddenly disappeared merely because wages have gone up a bit.

While I do believe that conservative approaches to economics and government can also succeed in the technological race, I want to generate awareness and reflection on the opportunity cost of those uncollected billions, and perhaps remind Trump supporters of the benefit that government spending in scientific research and development can have. I am quite liberal when it comes to this issue. It's one of the only things I think is worthy of public spending. And guess what? We're spending a shitload. If we're going to run up that debt let's run it up on stuff like this.

Trump is the President who appointed Rick Perry, the man who in his own campaign promised to abolish the DoE just four years earlier (well, if he could have remembered), a few years prior to this Obama initiative. So the man who heads the body that financed this supercomputer, and will operate it for the American public good, is the same one who doesn't think that body should exist. Odd. If one frames the building of this computer positively as an accomplishment of Trump, when he wasn't even the President who ordered it, suddenly pro-Trump posters will whistle and holler their approval.

Isn't that ironic? I don't think it should matter.

I don't think Public Funding going to the Private Sector necessarily goes against Conservative philosophy.

I know many dogmatic types try to equate any government spending as socialism but the thing that really goes Conservative Philosophy is the Central Planning theme where the Government runs the operation from inception to fruition. That's when you get into the Great Leap Forward and 5 year plans

 

[cottagecheesefan]

I don't know. I think the Chinese slave workers still got us beat on that.

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/magazine/17lootfarmers-t.html

That is what I am saying tho. I assume they built that prior fastest super computer to farm more gold so that Chinese guilds in WoW would reign supreme. Now we can combat them in the gold and guild wars that will go on for all eternity, by Elune's grace.

I want to read an update of this article now that virtual WoW gold is worth 7x the Venezuelan Bolivar in terms of real purchasing power.

My gf is Venezuelan, and one of her friends still there is farming WoW gold. She told me he makes about $20-25 US dollars/month, and is making enough to survive there pretty comfortably (relatively speaking).

 

[Sketch]

The funny thing is I bet Donald trump is still a lot smarter than that super computer. Much smarter.

 

[cottagecheesefan]

You don't hear much about IBM anymore unless you really follow the industry but they are still doing big things obviously.

because they got out of personal computers and home office type stuff.

 

[Madmick]

They've probably moved onto something bigger like cryptocurrency mining by now.

LOL, that truth isn't about WoW gold gaining in value (although it did, but that was only because of the Blizzard move to allow in-game currency to be used towards subscription fees).

The Chinese definitely have. Crypto market flipped from 2016 to 2018. Went from 80/20 Chinese hard currency investment to 20/80 American hard currency investment.

 

[JonesBones]

because they got out of personal computers and home office type stuff.

Yes, and their technology surrounds us. I sometimes see commercials from them on CNBC reminding us of that. They got a lot of stuff in big buildings that I wont ever work at or be allowed into. lol.

 

[Chad R. Thundercock]

LOL, that truth isn't about WoW gold gaining in value (although it did, but that was only because of the Blizzard move to allow in-game currency to be used towards subscription fees).

The Chinese definitely have. Crypto market flipped from 2016 to 2018. Went from 80/20 Chinese hard currency investment to 20/80 American hard currency investment.

The power of cheap labor cannot be underestimated. Quantity can sometimes triumph over quality.

 

[Madmick]

The power of cheap labor cannot be underestimated. Quantity can sometimes triumph over quality.

More than one way to skin a cat.

 

[Squarechoke]

Oh, build supercomputers, do you?

This project was conceived in 2014, but they didn't undertake to execute actually building/financing beyond the planning until November of last year.

If that question was meant as an attempt to discredit me you just shot yourself in the foot as I'm quite certain you don't either. I do work with leading technological projects though, however that's not really necessary for me to know the basics of how projects like that work. You don't start designing something like that without funding, which should be obvious since it's not just manufacturing that's expensive.

 

[ShinkanPo]

You don't hear much about IBM anymore unless you really follow the industry but they are still doing big things obviously.

Is back is normal.

 

[Cojopi Extomino]

This is one of my favorite Madmick threads ever. I wish you guys would've let it go.

We could've had the religious right in here cheering AI! You ruined it @SaiWa !

Things like this make me fear the gap though. It seems the uninformed and the informed are slowly becoming two different species entirely. We've got a president who can't coherently answer questions about whether killing people is wrong or not, and at the same time we're building brains that make our own look like sloppy prototypes.

The scariest part? The idea of a president like that, wielding technology like this, as a weapon. I like the possibilities of AI, but a lot of them scare me enough to almost not want it.

 

[Tiny]

The world’s fastest supercomputer is back in America
Meet Summit

Not reading this article again, I came across this yesterday, so I'm not sure if it's the one I read that mentioned this, but apparently if you were to calculate 1 equation successfully every second it would still take you 6.3bn years to perform an equal number of calculations that this computer will conduct in that same single second.

Happened on Trump's watch following a 14% corporate tax reduction. I do not accept this is a coincidence.

Anyone else itchin to play quake 1 on that bad boy, or is it just me?

 

[PolishHeadlock]

This is one of my favorite Madmick threads ever. I wish you guys would've let it go.

We could've had the religious right in here cheering AI! You ruined it @SaiWa !

Things like this make me fear the gap though. It seems the uninformed and the informed are slowly becoming two different species entirely. We've got a president who can't coherently answer questions about whether killing people is wrong or not, and at the same time we're building brains that make our own look like sloppy prototypes.

The scariest part? The idea of a president like that, wielding technology like this, as a weapon. I like the possibilities of AI, but a lot of them scare me enough to almost not want it.

If Westworld has taught me anything we're just going to end up spending the next 40 years raping and killing these computers.

 

[Cojopi Extomino]

If Westworld has taught me anything we're just going to end up spending the next 40 years raping and killing these computers.

The part of me that knows humanity too well fears AI might end up being nothing but the means a sexbot company uses to gain the necessary wealth to concur earth.

 

[loyalyolayal]

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

Does Ctrl , Alt, Delete work on this computer.

 

[SaiWa]

This is one of my favorite Madmick threads ever. I wish you guys would've let it go.

We could've had the religious right in here cheering AI! You ruined it @SaiWa !

Things like this make me fear the gap though. It seems the uninformed and the informed are slowly becoming two different species entirely. We've got a president who can't coherently answer questions about whether killing people is wrong or not, and at the same time we're building brains that make our own look like sloppy prototypes.

The scariest part? The idea of a president like that, wielding technology like this, as a weapon. I like the possibilities of AI, but a lot of them scare me enough to almost not want it.

I solly... so solly....