Posted on 07/29/2009 4:43:06 PM PDT by lbryce
Russia's launch of Sputnik in 1957 triggered a crisis of confidence in the U.S. that helped drive the creation of a space program. Now, Russia is comparing the U.S.'s achievements in supercomputing with theirs, and they don't like what they see.
In a speech on Tuesday, Russia's President, Dmitry Medvedev, criticized his country's IT industry almost to the point of sarcasm for failing to develop supercomputing technology, and urged a dramatic change in Russia's use of high-performance computing.
Medvedev, at the opening address of a Security Council Meeting on Supercomputers in Moscow, told attendees that 476 out of the 500 supercomputers on the Top500 list were manufactured in the United States. "Therefore, in general, our situation is very difficult," he said. Medvedev was clear about his blame for this gap. "If we are talking seriously, a huge number of entrepreneurs, not to mention officials, do not know what supercomputers are: For them it is an exotic type of those machines that were created in the 1920s to catch up and overtake America," Medvedev said in remarks published on a government Web site.
"Today businesses and federal agencies do not manifest their interest in supercomputer technology," Medvedev said. Although supercomputers are widely used in Western countries to, for instance, build aircraft, Medvedev said few aircraft in Russia have been built using supercomputers. Most of their design today is still being done on paper, he said, but "only a digital approach can have a breakthrough effect, lead to dramatic improvements in quality, and reduce the cost of the product."
Medvedev promised to invest in supercomputing technology, and warned that without it "our products will not be competitive or of interest to potential buyers."
(Excerpt) Read more at computerworld.com ...
Medvedev promised to invest in supercomputing technology, and warned that without it "our products will not be competitive or of interest to potential buyers."
At least he has some capitalistic instincts at work here. An encouraging sign.
read
There are a lot of smart people in Russia, and there's no reason they couldn't develop a national computer program like we developed the Apollo program. But of course the supercomputer game is a moving target, so you have to aim for a radical improvement in current technology to have any hope of being competitive by the time you get to production.
An economic boycott of Russia is the best way to ensure they stay behind us, until their system of government changes.
This sort of thing was very typical of the old Soviet administration. They would announce these grand catch-up-with-the-west schemes which wasted vast amounts of resources but made everybody feel good. For example, by the early 1960’s they could point to the number of tones of concrete and steel produced each year as “proof” that they were catching up with the west (and a lot of western “intellectuals” used to fall for it too). Of course there was no accounting as to what all of this steel was actually being used for.
Dmitry, what’s the worry? The Marxist in the White House and his fellow Marxists on the Hill are doing everything they can to destroy the country. When they’re done, a number 2 pencil with an eraser will look like a Cray to us.
They probably have us beat when it comes to hackers.
But will anyone have any intelligence to figure out how to use them or will the dumbed down throw them on the ground while looking for the next handout?
They can always create a “poor mans” supercomputer. Instead of a centralized supercomputer they can always create a de-centralized supecomputer. What you do is cluster off the shelf PC towers and have them work together.One thousand three hundred new computers from Compaq Computer Corporation have arrived at Sandia to increase the power of a “home-grown” Sandia computational cluster that already, linking only 600 desktop computers, ranks 44th among the world’s fastest supercomputers.They are very good for running web sites. I have two computers linked together.
Artifical Intelligence may be happening sooner than you think
Two classic examples of that are the Buran space shuttle, which flew once (!), and the MiG-25. The MiG-25 was engineered specifically to intercept the B-70 bomber, and wasn't very good at much else. We built three prototypes of the B-70 and scrapped the program; the Russians built hundreds of MiG-25's to intercept a plane that would never fly a single combat mission.
Russia needs supercomputers to do what? Spam email boxes? Better DDS?
Design better nuclear weapons and military hardware. Instead of testing them in a live test you can simulate it. We design nuclear weapons on our supercomputers because we cannot violate nuclear testing treaties.
You can also do is simulate nuclear weapons strikes
Why do you need to manufacture computers at home? No reason at all, when you can buy them. All other countries are perfectly happy to do so.
The reason is actually the same as in the Soviet Union: if you want to be at war, you want to be self-sufficient, especially in matters directly related to war.
Medvedev (i.e., Putin) wants domestic supercomputers to be self-sufficient and able to return to the warlike posture of the Communists.
Cheers!
Definitely.
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There is no way around the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. So we are stuck with simulations.We have 50 years of American nuclear know-how of nuclear legacy codes which are the ‘crown jewels of nuclear design’.
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