Do you know the connection between a Petaflop and a Deep Crack?
No? I didn’t think so. Everyone remembers deep throat but few have heard of
Deep Crack. It is the nickname for a Supercomputer built by Electronic Frontier
Foundation to perform a search to crack the code of an encrypted message by
trying every possible key. A supercomputer is at the frontline of current
processing capacity and speed of calculation. Supercomputers measure the speed
of their calculations in Petaflops. A
petaflop equals one quadrillion calculations happening every second. The latest
and fastest supercomputer (Titan) can do 20 quadrillion calculations per
second! That is way faster than a human can think.
Is it wise to have
computers this fast? I don’t think so. Scientist tell us that our brains
function much like a digital computer. When people use their brain to make
hasty decisions, they tend to make more errors. When we slow down, we tend to
be more accurate. Doesn’t that imply that digital computers are prone to making
more mistakes when they speed up? Geeks claim that computers never make
mistakes, only the people who use them. I am not so sure about that. I remember
that there was an Intel MMX that had a hardware flaw on a chip that made
incorrect mathematical calculations. The world could come to an end because of
a quick decision based on the incorrect calculations of a Supercomputer. Yikes!
From Oakland Airport
ReplyDeleteThe Tsar proffers the notion that human brains are better because they reason . . . at least some do.
Computers process on and off impulses in a linear fashion.
Very fast computers have wonderful benefits when used benignly (or even for national defense).
Dear Tsar,
ReplyDeleteDon't let the California nuts and fruits molest you!
Just because something goes on and off in a straight line does not mean that it is necessarily benign. Something that is very fast and not benign is a very dangerous thing. Have you not heard of the dangerous fast woman?