US Supercomputer Lead Sparks Russian Govt's Competitive Drive 74
CWmike writes "Russia's launch of Sputnik in 1957 triggered a crisis of confidence in the US that helped drive the creation of a space program. Now, Russia is comparing the US'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."
Human minds don't compare to THAT human mind. (Score:3, Interesting)
The SR-71 blackbird was arguably the finest airplane ever built. Nothing before or since has ever matched it.
It was designed with nothing but a slide rule and paper.
Don't think these expensive toys are an adequate substitute for the human mind. Or for well trained engineers and mathemeticians.
Aw, c'mon. There are good reasons that the "stolen alien technology" meme has such staying power, and the SR-71 is one of the biggest. It was ridiculously far ahead of anything else we'd produced. Sure, it was the product of "the human mind", or at least A human mind, but I don't think lumping Kelly Johnson or Nikola Tesla or Leonardo da Vinci in with "the rest of humanity" is especially useful.
Whatever your level of skill and insight, though, supercomputing can act as a force multiplier for your brain. If you're claiming that real engineers only need a slide rule and paper, or that supercomputing will somehow get in the way of their natural gifts, well, I'm going to have to disagree.
Oh, and I probably shouldn't be mentioning this, but I've heard rumors that the military actually didn't stop developing newer and faster aircraft technologies after the Blackbird. But don't tell anyone.
I sure hope they can create that need (Score:2, Interesting)
I hate an arms-race as much as the next guy, but imagine if all the showmanship from whose nukepeen was bigger in the cold war could go towards supercomputing or fuel efficiency as the primary goal instead of a spin-off.
No cold war fear, just politicians whipping out their huge... processors... as part of a rallying call.
So, drop the gauntlet Medvedev, or e-trousers as the case may be.
-Matt