Slashdot Mirror
Simulating the Whole Universe
Roland Piquepaille writes "An international group of cosmologists, the Virgo Consortium, has realized the first simulation of the entire universe, starting 380,000 years after the Big Bang and going up to now. In 'Computing the Cosmos,' IEEE Spectrum writes that the scientists used a 4.2 teraflops system at the Max Planck Society's Computing Center in Garching, Germany, to do the computations. The whole universe was simulated by ten billion particles, each having a mass a billion times that of our sun. As it was necessary to compute the gravitational interactions between each of the ten billion mass points and all the others, a task that needed 60,000 years, the computer scientists devised a couple of tricks to reduce the amount of computations. And in June 2004, the first simulation of our universe was completed. The resulting data, which represents about 20 terabytes, will be available to everyone in the months to come, at least to people with a high-bandwidth connection. Read more here about the computing aspects of the simulation, but if you're interested by cosmology, the long original article is a must-read."
Does the simulation include simulated scientists simulating the universe?
"I always wanted to be God." said Dr. Johnson. "When they announced this project, the first words out of my mouth were 'Dibs on God!' I even have plans to introduce a son in a few billion simulated years. This is going to be exciting."
I can search it to find out where I left my cell phone last night.
The only acceptable defense of scientific results is to say that they were the product of the Scientific Method.
Fire up your bittorrents, people!
The answer is 42. Just google it
Do you have a 1:1 scale map of the world I can use?
Uh yes, but it's being used right now.
Now just imagine a beowulf cluster of... damned!
Sounds like the first Hyperspace Nav-Computer to me...
How many of you read that as "stimulating the whole universe" and immediately thought of pr0n?
Oh...
just me...
It's turtles all the way down.
Now, where can I find the scientists working on a reality-hacking machine?
We slashdotted the entire universe. Way to go.
Dim UNIVERSE AS INT
III.IIVIVIXIIVIVIIIVVIIIIXVIIIXIIIIIIIIVIIIIVVIII
Now that the hard simulations are out of the way maybe the simulations can work on other tough issues. For example, why is it that bacon makes other foods taste so much better?
Ummmmm, baaaccoonnn (obligatory simpsons quote)
... the intergalactic branch of the RIAA has filed a "Cease and Desist" order against the scientists, citing Copyright law; that anyone giving out free copies of the universe without first seeking permission from the copyright holder is a violation of intergalactic intellectual property rights.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
Apparently this requires more stack space than exists in this universe.
well was the last time you checked in 1930?
Given that this group is called "the Virgo Consortium", is it any wonder that they have to resort to a "simulated" "Big Bang"?
...used by Duke Nukem: Forever.
I know eBay ads come up often, but I just find the fact that ebay bought ads for "42" (and apparently other numbers) just astounding. Do they really think a lot of people want to buy numbers on eBay? I, for one, buy my numbers down on the corner from a guy named Mickey.
I just hope it has a "You are Here-->" indicator so we all know where we are.
1.Netcraft confirms:In Soviet Russia all your base welcomes a beowolf cluster of CowboyNeal overlords. 2.? 3.Profit!!1!
thx
I'm Rick James with mod points biatch!
Thought so. The universe is pre-alpha, which is why every feature sucks.
What is the URL address to download that 20 TB data? Me and my 56K modem can't wait to start getting them. Preferably, the server supports resumable download, if you please.