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Military Running a Parallel Earth Simulator
Fantastic Lad writes "The US Department of Defense (DOD) may already be creating a copy of you in an alternate reality. Putting supercomputers to an innovative use, the military is simulating our planet in an effort to predict the outcome of different scenarios. They might run tests to see how long 'you' can go without food or water, or how 'you' will respond to televised propaganda. Billions of nodes are created in the system, intended to reflect every man, woman, and child. 'Called the Sentient World Simulation (SWS), it will be a "synthetic mirror of the real world with automated continuous calibration with respect to current real-world information", according to a concept paper for the project. Simulex is the company developing these systems, and they list pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and defense contractor Lockheed Martin among their private sector clients. The U.S. military is their biggest customer, apparently now running the most complex version of the system. JFCOM-9 is now capable of running real-time simulations for up to 62 nations, including Iraq, Afghanistan, and China. The simulations gobble up breaking news, census data, economic indicators, and climactic events in the real world, along with proprietary information such as military intelligence."
Where "parallel" is spelled "paralell".
The downside is that the full version of this simulator will be powered by the electro-chemical activity of six billion human beings.
Whoa.
k.
"In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." - Anne Frank
They should have called it W.O.P.R.
New rule: if you can't spell, you can't smoke pot.
Hand it over, Zonk.
I sure hope it comes complete with options to unleash a tidal wave, hurricane, rioters, and UFOs, just to you know, see what happens.
I do hope they get the fjords right... lovely crinkly edges...
Maybe they will share with me the simulation sequence of events that finally get me laid. There could be something useful in all this!
... I think this will lead to the opposite.
"Mr. President, we found a scenario in which Iraq will become th 52nd US State, oil will flow freely, WMDs were found in Saddam's closet, and bin-Laden was found in his bedroom."
"Excellent! Invade!"
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
"I know not with what computer WW3 will be simulated, but WW4 will be simulated with sticks and stones."
Chance of someone imagining a Beowulf cluster of these: 100.0%
The Spoon
Updated 6/28/2011
I hope the simulated me has an iPhone.
no one would pay the energy bill for a simulation of male humans who mostly sit at their computer either posting on slashdot or downloading pr0n and wanking off. QED, you're all real.