Japan Builds World's Fastest Computer

claylikethemud writes "The New York Times reports that Japan has built the world's most powerful supercomputer from "640 specialized nodes that are in turn composed of 5,104" NEC processors. The machine boasts the computing power equivalent to the 20 fastest American supercomputers combined, and with a top speed of 35.6 teraflops, outpaces the next fastest machine, the ASCI White Pacific, by more than factor of five. Applications include climate modeling, global warming prediction, and other non-weapons research."

Comments

Re:Non-weapon?

[DNS-and-BIND]

That's a rather outdated and simplistic attitude. There is a very sizable faction of Japanese who would like nothing better than to declare Japan a nuclear power and begin dominating the Pacific again. These aren't wierdo radicals, either, big-time politicians think this way, among them the Governor of Tokyo. Didn't the Prime Minister of Japan make a big stink a few years back , by visiting a military cemetery to pay respect to men who were undisputedly war criminals far worse than any Serbian. Now what was that about strict attitudes again?

Re:Non-weapon?

[u01000101]

very sizable faction of Japanese who would like nothing better than to declare Japan a nuclear power and begin dominating the Pacific again

[off topic]
And if they decide to do this, is it good or bad? Who's gonna challenge them?
Is the US (or EU, or China) better at dominating the Pacific? At least the chinese and the japanese understand the local culture, understanding which has eluded the West for 500 years.
The US is not in the position to freeze japanese assets, as in 1941. Maybe Japan is the natural Israel of the Pacific, after all.