It might seem that science and religion are both based on faith, but it just *seems* that way. Religions require one to take everything on faith; knowledge is gleaned from text, authority, and possibly personal revelation (some religions might damn you for the latter, though). Science, however, requires that its assertions be repeatable. Take cold fusion, for example. Many people believed that Pons and Fleischmann had discovered the greatest thing since sliced bread. When (virtually) nobody could repeat their results, they were relegated to the trashbin of scientific history.
You do make a good point when you say that many people take things on faith. Perhaps if people investigated things for themselves, they wouldn't be tricked so easily. Please don't think I'm necessarily knocking religion; anybody who says "This is the way it is, because I said so - and don't trouble yourself with the details" just seems a bit suspicious to me...
Of course, this all depends on what kind of application you are running. A large finite-element analysis can be split into any number of independent pieces for computation. Sure, it requires some duplication of data, but you've got to pay a price somewhere.:)
Plus, usually these machines aren't strictly single-use; more often than not, there are several large simulations/computations running on them. In general, more CPUs = more large independent programs running simultaneously. --Eric
Slashdot Mirror
Or, more accurately:
"Politicians are like diapers - they must be changed frequently, and for the same reason..."
There's one easy question that will immediately weed out 99% of all applicants:
Have you ever done anything....high tech?
Hee hee...475 mHz? That would be 0.475 Hz. Exactly what are you running on this? I know, I know, no more prefix ragging...
It might seem that science and religion are both based on faith, but it just *seems* that way. Religions require one to take everything on faith; knowledge is gleaned from text, authority, and possibly personal revelation (some religions might damn you for the latter, though). Science, however, requires that its assertions be repeatable. Take cold fusion, for example. Many people believed that Pons and Fleischmann had discovered the greatest thing since sliced bread. When (virtually) nobody could repeat their results, they were relegated to the trashbin of scientific history.
You do make a good point when you say that many people take things on faith. Perhaps if people investigated things for themselves, they wouldn't be tricked so easily. Please don't think I'm necessarily knocking religion; anybody who says "This is the way it is, because I said so - and don't trouble yourself with the details" just seems a bit suspicious to me...
Plus, usually these machines aren't strictly single-use; more often than not, there are several large simulations/computations running on them. In general, more CPUs = more large independent programs running simultaneously. --Eric