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DARPA's Latest Chip Is Designed To Be Bad At Arithmetic (technologyreview.com)

Posted by msmash on from the deliberately-getting-your-sums-wrong dept.

Reader holy_calamity writes: Pentagon research agency DARPA has funded the creation of a chip incapable of correct arithmetic, in the hope of making computers better at understanding the real world. A chip that can't guarantee that every calculation is perfect can still get good results on many problems but needs fewer circuits and burns less energy, says Joseph Bates, cofounder and CEO of Singular Computing. The S1 chip can process noisy data like video very efficiently because it doesn't need the extra circuits or operations needed to ensure every mathematical operation is performed perfectly. This summer DARPA will put five prototype computers, each equipped with 16 of the inexact S1 chips, online for researchers to experiment with.

11 of 192 comments (clear)

  1. Intel already tried something similar by marius.muja · · Score: 5, Funny

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    1. Re:Intel already tried something similar by Pfhorrest · · Score: 4, Funny

      Daisy, daisy
      Give me your answer do
      I'm half crazy
      Can't divide three by two
      All my answers
      I can't see 'em
      They are stuck
      In my Pentium
      I could be sweet
      My answers fleet
      With a workable FPU

      -David Pogue, probably

      --
      -Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of all Trades
      "I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."
    2. Re:Intel already tried something similar by Locke2005 · · Score: 5, Funny

      At Intel, quality is job 0.9999999998!

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  2. Simple Solution by cogeek · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just program the chips to use Common Core math

  3. Bet you this is the key to real AI by gurps_npc · · Score: 4, Funny

    As in, in order to get a real AI, it will need to have this fuzzy logic.

    Which by the way will end up making our new Robotic overlords require human slaves to do math for them.

    Which we will do incorrectly, causing their entire robotic empire to fall in a matter of hours.

    --
    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
  4. Poor Arithmatic by NetGyver · · Score: 1, Funny

    Finally, a chip that's close enough for government work!

    --
    A Penny for my thoughts? Here's my two cents. I got ripped off!
  5. the question on everyone's mind: by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 4, Funny

    Does it run Linus... cause you know, close enough.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  6. Isn't Visual Basic non-deterministic enough? by dsmatthews9379 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why spend all that money on research when Microsoft already had the perfect product for their needs.

  7. Re:An irrational fear of change... by cogeek · · Score: 4, Funny

    You should have provided her a piece of paper and a pencil so she could draw out 1,212 little circles and then cross off 687 of them, then count up the remaining circles. Would be a system she's likely to be much more familiar with, unfortunately.

  8. Remember: by Locke2005 · · Score: 4, Funny

    At Intel, quality is job number 0.99998643!

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  9. Re:An irrational fear of change... by radarskiy · · Score: 5, Funny

    "so I wouldn't have to carry around so many separate bills or extra coins"

    Sounds like you couldn't cope with change, either.