Last year, the Obama administration began a new effort to develop a so-called “exascale” supercomputer that would be 10 times faster than today’s fastest supercomputers. (An exaflop is a quintillion — one million trillion — mathematical instructions a second.) Computer scientists have argued that such machines will allow more definitive answers on crucial questions such as the danger posed by climate change.It is funny what scientists will say to get funding. If saying that anthropogenic global warming is a proven fact gets them funding, they say that. But if then saying that we need an exascale supercomputer will prove it, they say that to get funding for those exaflops.
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Lobbying for the exascale computer
The NY Times reports:
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It's just a game of international prestige. I never notice the Asian Tigers doing as much overrated science but instead focus on providing incomes, opportunities and living standards for their people. The more statist societies are about the egos of politicians and their attempts to create potemkin villages. The Chinese just built a supercomputer five times faster than any U.S. supercomputer and they did it with their own chips because the U.S. cut them off out of jealousy. China is still a very underdeveloped country but they have such dick fear that they think simply building something bigger will make them look good. This explains our interest in quantum computers. It's socialists competing for how much extravagant waste they can afford to create. Fusion and particle smashers are another useless scam but are more collaborative and focused on creating careers for PhD surpluses.
ReplyDeleteIf Obama invested in a twenty dollar pocket calculator instead of a exascaler computer costing billions, he might be able to do some basic arithmetic and accounting to discover how much money he is wasting, and perhaps notice the economy is sinking.
ReplyDeleteThere really is no functional difference between quantitative easing and counterfeiting currency, both have the same results for the same reasons.