[Schadenfreude]

Roadrunner supercomputer puts research at a new scale

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PhysOrg.com', ' ')On Saturday, Los Alamos researchers used PetaVision to model more than a billion visual neurons surpassing the scale of 1 quadrillion computations a second (a petaflop/s). On Monday scientists used PetaVision to reach a new computing performance record of 1.144 petaflop/s. The achievement throws open the door to eventually achieving human-like cognitive performance in electronic computers. PetaVision only requires single precision arithmetic, whereas the official LINPACK code used to officially verify Roadrunner's speed uses double precision arithmetic.

"Roadrunner ushers in a new era for science at Los Alamos National Laboratory," said Terry Wallace, associate director for Science, Technology and Engineering at Los Alamos. "Just a week after formal introduction of the machine to the world, we are already doing computational tasks that existed only in the realm of imagination a year ago."

Based on the results of PetaVision's inaugural trials, Los Alamos researchers believe they can study in real time the entire human visual cortex—arguably a human being's most important sensory apparatus.

The ability to achieve human levels of cognitive performance on a digital computer could lead to important insights and revolutionary technological applications. Such applications include "smart" cameras that can recognize danger or an autopilot system for automobiles that could take over for incapacitated drivers in complex situations such as navigating dense urban traffic.

[whansen02]

I was listening to a bit about this on the news the other day. It's just crazy to think about what our future holds & the things our kids & kids, kids will experience in their lifetimes.
Will

[eric_b]

Pffft. They've got cycles to burn, but no one really has a clue on how cognition, or for that matter consciousness, works. I don't see this as changing anything. Sounds like they're looking for some way to rationalize their new $120 million toy.

Predictions such as this have been made for decades, regarding matching the fluidity of human perception and cognition. Unfortunately it's not the hardware that's wanting - it's the ideas, algorithms & software that are lacking. Has been for some time.

If I had access to hardware like this, I'd do something interesting with it, like real time ray tracing. Or video games with AI and rendering to die for.

[Schadenfreude]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eric_b', 'P')ffft. They've got cycles to burn, but no one really has a clue on how cognition, or for that matter consciousness, works. I don't see this as changing anything. Sounds like they're looking for some way to rationalize their new $120 million toy.

Predictions such as this have been made for decades, regarding matching the fluidity of human perception and cognition. Unfortunately it's not the hardware that's wanting - it's the ideas, algorithms & software that are lacking. Has been for some time.

If I had access to hardware like this, I'd do something interesting with it, like real time ray tracing. Or video games with AI and rendering to die for.

[ANewHuman]

Until processing those billions of operations per second is as efficient as say the human eye this is just a complete waste of energy. You can't give something like that a room full of computers and a megawatt of power without it costing you big time.

[Schadenfreude]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ANewHuman', 'U')ntil processing those billions of operations per second is as efficient as say the human eye this is just a complete waste of energy. You can't give something like that a room full of computers and a megawatt of power without it costing you big time.

[ANewHuman]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Schadenfreude', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ANewHuman', 'U')ntil processing those billions of operations per second is as efficient as say the human eye this is just a complete waste of energy. You can't give something like that a room full of computers and a megawatt of power without it costing you big time.

[cowuvula]

Peak oil was planned to hit just before all this became possible, because, as Maxwell Smart used to always say,
"If only they would have used their peta-processors for good, instead of evil, continually."

When they go too far, their control will be removed.
within just days.