Slashdot Mirror
IBM Working on Brain-Rivaling Computer
Obdurate writes "The first supercomputers to approach and even surpass the processing power
of the human brain are to be built by IBM, under a $184M contract
announced by the US Government yesterday.
ASCI Purple and Blue Gene/L will be the fastest and most powerful machines built,
with a combined capacity equal to the 500 best of todays computers."
They time William Shatner doing some quick calculations...
Any sufficiently well-organized Government is indistinguishable from bullshit.
How often does it think about sex?
Can this thing telecommute? It could hold several jobs since most people only use a fraction of their brain at work. I wonder if it can do its own taxes.
In fact he's a bit thick.
Now we can have computers that screw things up at a rate that rivals our own! Because seriously, we needed the competition.
Big deal. My P133 with Word 97 exceeds the entire slashdot crew at spell checking.
Actually, that won't be that difficult to do if they are comparing this computer with the "brain power" some of the doe-doe's I went to high school with
HallmarkOrnaments.Com
I do 1-2 flops if I get easy numbers...
Easy, just run SPEC-brain.
there's variability in human brains. I wonder whose brain it will rival. We don't need to spend $100,000,000,000 to wind up with an electronic version of Pat Robertson or Rush Limbaugh.
Perhaps now we will get the Answer to Life, Universe, Everything!
And it damn better not be 42!
Join the elite! Post at score:2! Ghostwheel is online.
Thou Shalt Not Make a Machine in the image of the mind of Man.
Somehow, I think that might be good advice.
Then we rate them, by my calculations, you're brain is running at a level equivalent to a C64.
Ouch.
Will it cuss whenever it gets a core dump? Will it cry when its favorite sysadmin leaves for a new job? Will it get horny when a cute little beowulf cluster comes sashaying by? Will it eventually get totally stupid and become a manager?
My place in the universe is still very much assured it would seem.
2004 Blue Gene achieves processing power of human brain.
2006, 2 a.m. Blue Gene becomes sentient.
2006, 2:01 a.m. BG acquires control of DefenseNet
2006, 2:02 a.m. BG declares 'First Post' on Slashdot. Modded down as offtopic.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14am.
You feel sleepy. Close your eyes. The opinions stated above are yours. You cannot imagine why you ever felt otherwise.
Hopefully it won't be running microsoft software
ASCI Purple
I can't wait until a few years from now when we're treated to talking about ASCI Mauve, ASCI Burnt Sienna, and ASCI Periwinkle....
sig--we don't need no goddamn sig
Twinkies are not sentient in any way we can understand,
but they rival the raw processing power of some human brains.
"Especially when they're still in their colonies",
says Hostess creamy-filling researcher.
So a computer with the processing capacity of a human brain is to be put to work by the government? Does the US government have any actual experience in managing something as powerful as a human brain? How long before the computer realizes it could do much better in the private sector?
From the article:
ASCI Purple will be built using 12,544 IBM Power5 microprocessors, the same chips that are used in Apple PCs and Nintendo games systems.
So it's basically a Beowulf cluster of GameCubes?
The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
--Aristotle
That's before overclocking.
..contract announced by the US Government yesterday. This computer will be delivered just in time for the national debates of the 2004 election, subbing in for George Bush.
Live web cams
Dear IBM,
I couldn't help but notice that you were hard at work developing a computer to rival the human brain to the tune of $184,000,000.
It just so happens that I have a human brain and I would be quite happy to let you use it for a tidy sum that is far below the aformentioned $184M.
Please give me a call at your earliest convenience to work out the details.
Thanks,
Jason
----[%snip]----
My
Limekiller
We can make mechanical hearts so the tin man is taken care of. All that's left is to give the cowardly lion a lot of booze and suddenly Dorothy is off to see the wizard by herself.
--Joey
Imagine a bewul... --sssllllaaaaappppp!!!!
Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated up.
A phaser's energy pulse doesn't travel at c--if it did, we'd never see even a little streak in any scale small enough to see the crew or the enterprise. The directed-energy weapon has at least some mass to contain the energy.
Hate to be a dick, but.
It's people like you that make it hard for people like me to get laid. It's not just that you know a bunch of stuff about technology. It's that you know a bunch of stuff about technology that doesn't exist. For example, last week I was forced to break up a conversation that two of my cow-orkers were having on the relative merits and drawbacks of the different types of transporters used by the different races. Had that conversation continued, it might have made it impossible for any geek to EVER GET LAID AGAIN.
Just the hearing phrase "computer scientist" causes most women to stop ovulating immediately already. Let's not make things worse on ourselves.
Yes, but how many BP does it take to process one LOC (Library Of Congress) of data?
Please consider making an automatic monthly recurring donation to the EFF
---Our brain is the ultimate laptop.
I beg your pardon... My girlfriend is my "ultimate laptop". heh heh..
I hate Grammar Nazi's
Ah, I beg to differ. Pour orange juice on a motherboard. Totally disfunctional in a few seconds. Now pour orange juice on your head.
Brain 1, Computers 0.
This post expresses my opinion, not that of my employer. And yes, IAAL.
Now pour juice on the desktop case. Now pour juice on the brain during surgery.
ASCI White, Deep Blue(understandable), but now
:) )
ASCI Purple and Blue Gene/L ? WTF?
Is the next version going to be called
ASCI Pink and Purple? or ASCI Barbie's Dreamhouse.....
Get back to naming the systems after Tolkien characters, or greek gods. (
Skynet will rule the human race, sure enough, but it won't be called "Skynet". It will be known as
ASCI SuperPoopyPants.
nbfn
>
>I might have an opportunity to meet Marilyn Vos Savant next month at the annual Parade Publications holliday party... I'll be sure and ask her the outcome of a 14 megaton detonation if it were to occur on the corner of 47th and Lex at about the 25th story level. I'll get back to you on that
The difference between theoretical and experimental science, in a nutshell.
A theoretical physicsist knows that the simplest way to get the answer is to just ask Marilyn Vos Savant, wait a few moments while she derives the equations for the 14MT blast at the desired altitude from first principles, and then punches it into Blast Mapper to demonstrate that indeed, her answer of "well, it'll suck more than the 1MT blast, and less than the 25MT blast" is within the paramaeters of the open literature.
An experimental physicist, on the other hand, will find out - and will do so much more quickly than the theoretician - simply by asking Anna Nicole Smith by means of a telephone call placed from at least 20 miles away, and observe the results as Anna's head explodes during her brain's attempted parsing of the question. (Predicted criticality point: somewhere between the words "outcome" and "of").
Sheesh. My mom hates the fact that I keep my old 486 around. I can't imagine who would keep that many old Nintendos packed away in their basement/attic. (probably someone not living with their parents, I'm sure.)
Karma: NaN
The Windows brain:
Clippy - It appears you're trying to catch a ball...
*THUD* OUCH!
The Linux brain:
Guy named Beowulf #1: Move left 3 feet.
Guy named Beowulf #2: Move forward 2 feet.
Guy named Beowulf #3: Raise arms 10 inches.
Guy named Beowulf #4: Catch ball.
The Apple brain:
This would be a lot easier if the ball were translucent. Also, the Apple ball only has one seam to make it easier for the user.
--- I wish I could hear the soundtrack to my life. That way I'd know when to duck.
Microsoft is Skynet!
Yes, the power of the human brain = 1 BP (brainpower).
But that's the American system. The rest of the world uses Metric, and not even NASA can remember the conversion ratio. I seem to remember something about subtracting 32, but it's getting foggy.
Now i'm curious... What are the different advantages and disadvantages to different races transporter technologies?
Shouldn't Joel Robinson be the director of this project? I mean, the guy made at least three AIs out of parts meant to stop and start movies! Mike was barely able to keep them functioning after Joel escaped.
Insanity is the last line of defence for the master diplomat. But you have to lay the groundwork early.
Brain 1, Computers 0.
Now evacuate all the oxygen from the room for thirty minutes:
Brain 1, Computers 1
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife