The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Japanese Computer Is World's Fastest, as U.S. Falls Back

JimmyDee · April 20, 2002, 09:59 PM

Don't get too excited about the technology. Note that, in the text, the machine is described as a "massively parallel" vector processor. Ponder this: are ten cars, welded together side by side, travelling at 10MPH, as fast as a single car travelling 100MPH? Well, the computer they're describing here is like the 10 car rig. It's a design suitable for some analysis and modeling (like weather, where models deal with thousands of thousands of observation and forecast points) but, as was mentioned, US interest in such designs has diminished in recent years, partly because it's difficult to work with these machines.

The remark about peace-loving Japanese is exactly what they would like us to believe...

April 20, 2002, 09:59 PM	#11
JimmyDee Member Join Date: December 30, 2001 Location: Memphis, Tennessee Posts: 79	Don't get too excited about the technology. Note that, in the text, the machine is described as a "massively parallel" vector processor. Ponder this: are ten cars, welded together side by side, travelling at 10MPH, as fast as a single car travelling 100MPH? Well, the computer they're describing here is like the 10 car rig. It's a design suitable for some analysis and modeling (like weather, where models deal with thousands of thousands of observation and forecast points) but, as was mentioned, US interest in such designs has diminished in recent years, partly because it's difficult to work with these machines. The remark about peace-loving Japanese is exactly what they would like us to believe...