Worlds Fastest Computer: Roadrunner
So, the US has built what is by far the worlds fastest computer. It broke the one petaflop barrier, meaning it performs 1,000 trillion operations per second.
An example:
"To put this into perspective, if each of the 6 billion people on earth had a hand calculator and worked together on a calculation 24 hours per day, 365 days a year, it would take 46 years to do what Roadrunner would do in one day."
The sad thing is, that unlike the EARTH simulator or other supercomputers being put to productive use in furthering the development of mankind, the purpose of this machine is to replace the need to test nuclear weapons to predict and ensure stability in our nuclear stockpile. Granted, this is better than testing nukes, but surely some time could be given over to NASA etc...
UPDATE: Just found this tidbit, thankfully: "It will also find use in research in the fields of astronomy, energy, human genome science, and climate change."
An example:
"To put this into perspective, if each of the 6 billion people on earth had a hand calculator and worked together on a calculation 24 hours per day, 365 days a year, it would take 46 years to do what Roadrunner would do in one day."
The sad thing is, that unlike the EARTH simulator or other supercomputers being put to productive use in furthering the development of mankind, the purpose of this machine is to replace the need to test nuclear weapons to predict and ensure stability in our nuclear stockpile. Granted, this is better than testing nukes, but surely some time could be given over to NASA etc...
UPDATE: Just found this tidbit, thankfully: "It will also find use in research in the fields of astronomy, energy, human genome science, and climate change."
Comments
Post a Comment