Chinese Computer Trumps US One as World's Fastest (CNBC, Oct 28, 2010)
http://www.cnbc.com/id/39886462
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Oh, well. At least the once crown jewel NNSA weapon labs have the Chinese totally beat when it comes to expensive, bloated upper management and inane bureaucracies. They'll never overtake us in those two critical areas of US national security!
11 comments:
But on a positive note....I hear George is giving lab core values a lot of thought recently!
Congrats to the Chinese team. As the original poster points out, the PRC is known to minimize bureaucracy and encourage the free flowering of intellectual pursuits. He should send in an application today.
Great. Now they have the supercomputing capability to run our hydrocodes (e.g. DYNA) which are available commercially (thanks to DOE) and they already have our models (thanks to Lee). We can only only hope that they have an equivalent of Bret Knapp trying to dismantle their weapon program and fire weapon experts.
Not many people understand the incredible damage Wen Ho Lee did to our national security, Thanks for reminding us.
Wen Ho committed a number of crimes that harmed our national security, but most of the damage was self-inflicted. He simply threw a match on the ample supply of dry tinder available at the Labs. Our "leaders," media and politicians did the rest.
I agree with Nov. 1st post. I led the effort and trained several teams to work on calibrations by laser light of a particular geo-synchronous platform during my 25+ years in the WFO's programs at LLNL. What astounded me was that my SCI was good enough to "know" about the system I was working with, not any others as they req'd further compartmentalization. At the transition of the contract, I spied an article published on line from the NY TImes (not securities friend ever)where Bodman & the NNSA Director were beating their chests talking of the good coming out of DOE while standing in front of a poster of the DSP's that I had worked with, and they were expounding upon the instruments on the platform including the other major instrument on board that was beyond my SCI level even in a SCIF. I've checked again, and it's out there for the public to know. If I had mentioned that system within earshot of a "minder" I'd be in prison for life. What's wrong with this picture? Have we given up National Security for ego and profit?
I retired 5 mos. ago, am not looking back, but, am now watching my back.
Ah, such is the world of speeding technology. For ORNL, being #1 lasted a year with Jaguar. LLNL will attempt to regain the lead in 2012 with Sierra. Bragging rights in this field comes with a large price tag. Hopefully, the Chinese won't have to sell too many assets they own in the US to pay for theirs.
America sleeps while the emerging markets (and esp. China) work hard and do what is necessary to advance beyond the developed world in science and technology.
Does anyone in Congress or the public really care about our falling standards in science? Nah, they do not. Just look how the DOE and NNSA are run if you need any hard evidence!
"Does anyone in Congress or the public really care about our falling standards in science? Nah, they do not."
I think Congress and DOE care about bragging rights. DOE was not a group of happy campers when Japan came up with the Earth Simulator machine and was #1. Congress was not happy with that either which is how the ASC program at LLNL, LANL and Sandia came into being. Money was poured into those three labs in the computing arena. But in case you haven't noticed, the economy is in the dumpster. Creating a computer for bragging rights is one thing, creating a computer to perform a needed function is another.
The Earth Simulator machine was built in 1999-2002, but Vis Reis created the ASC(I) program in 1995, putting Gil Wiegand in charge. ASC was NOT launched in response to the Earth Simulator, but rather as a way to have a supercomputing goal for the labs with full industrial profit.
November 11, 2010 3:04 PM
You are right on the timeline, I stand corrected.
But there was gnashing of teeth when Earth Simulator became #1 and I remember the rah rah speech from an upper level manager stating how we would come back and show the world that we would become #1 again.
Heck, there's gnashing of teeth at LANL when Livermore is the big dog, disgruntlement at LLNL if LANL is in the lead and both labs were probably aghast that ORNL had become #1.
But now the bragging rights has moved offshore again and the push will be on to bring the trophy back to USA. Hopefully we will get a machine and a supporting infrastructure that will enhance the science. If we get #1 on a benchmark but it doesn't improve the productivity, then it isn't worth it.
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