5 ms·

Why do I think this is FUD?

fwip 7y ago
One clue might be the scaremongering about "this might help China develop nuclear weapons," as if A) they didn't already have nukes B) making your own x86 processors were a prerequisite to nuclear technology
- monocasa 7y ago
  Seriously, we peaked with control logic for nukes in the 70s. China has been able to put their hands on PDP-11s for quite a while now, lol.
  - azinman2 7y ago
    It’s not about control logic as supercomputers are used to simulate explosions so you don’t have to do it in the world releasing a lot of radioactivity.
    - monocasa 7y ago
      Sure but using that to optimize for yield (ie. scariness) peaked in the 70s too. Like anything past and including tsar bomba ceases to make sense.
      - sinuhe69 7y ago
        But you can not put a tzar bomb on a rocket, that can be fired from a silo or even from a submarine. And to threat America and Europe your rocket need to flight 10000 miles or more and reach Mach 5 or even faster. All possible only with high yield, compact warheads, which the Chinese do not have yet.
        monocasa 7y ago
        Sure, so that takes you into 80s technology. A Nintendo switch destroys a cray y-mp on perf. The processing power at oak ridge et al AFAIK is spent trying to recover old warheads without testing them, which is a massively harder problem. Edit: and the Chinese have had their DD-ZF publicly for years now. I feel like they have to have warheads for it. Given where we've known about what warheads they have when, it'd make sense for that to be available currently.
- sinuhe69 7y ago
  They already have low yield nukes but to develop high yield, compact warheads without much nuclear testing (which can be easily detected and would undoubtedly draw critics from other countries) precise simulation on super computer is necessary. Also to solve fluid dynamics problems (for example to develop advanced jet engines or silent submarine propeller, which the Chinese desperately need), detailed simulation on super computer is absolutely a must. Now running LinPack to show off some nice PR numbers is one thing but actually writing an own efficient (and correct) simulation) on massive parallel systems is a thing of another level. It surely helps if one can draw on the massive highly optimized numerical libraries built for the x86/64 instruction set. It certainly will not hinder either in case one has stolen properties software and code from western companies!
  - khuey 7y ago
    China demonstrated a 4 megaton explosion in 1976. Tsar Bomba was in 1961. You really don't need modern computers for this.
    - sinuhe69 7y ago
      But you can not put a tzar bomb on a rocket, that can be fired from a silo or even from a submarine. And to threat America and Europe your rocket need to flight 10000 miles or more and reach Mach 5 or even faster. All possible only with high yield, compact warheads and advanced rocketry, which the Chinese do not have yet.
      - khuey 7y ago
        The DF-5 can carry those 4Mt warheads, has a 12k+ km range, and has been around since 1981.
  - adinobro 7y ago
    China already had a top supercomputer a long time before this happened. They didn't need x86 for this... It helps in the future but for this scenario, it makes not difference.

fwip 7y ago

One clue might be the scaremongering about "this might help China develop nuclear weapons," as if A) they didn't already have nukes B) making your own x86 processors were a prerequisite to nuclear technology

monocasa 7y ago
Seriously, we peaked with control logic for nukes in the 70s. China has been able to put their hands on PDP-11s for quite a while now, lol.
- azinman2 7y ago
  It’s not about control logic as supercomputers are used to simulate explosions so you don’t have to do it in the world releasing a lot of radioactivity.
  - monocasa 7y ago
    Sure but using that to optimize for yield (ie. scariness) peaked in the 70s too. Like anything past and including tsar bomba ceases to make sense.
    - sinuhe69 7y ago
      But you can not put a tzar bomb on a rocket, that can be fired from a silo or even from a submarine. And to threat America and Europe your rocket need to flight 10000 miles or more and reach Mach 5 or even faster. All possible only with high yield, compact warheads, which the Chinese do not have yet.
      - monocasa 7y ago
        Sure, so that takes you into 80s technology. A Nintendo switch destroys a cray y-mp on perf. The processing power at oak ridge et al AFAIK is spent trying to recover old warheads without testing them, which is a massively harder problem. Edit: and the Chinese have had their DD-ZF publicly for years now. I feel like they have to have warheads for it. Given where we've known about what warheads they have when, it'd make sense for that to be available currently.
sinuhe69 7y ago
They already have low yield nukes but to develop high yield, compact warheads without much nuclear testing (which can be easily detected and would undoubtedly draw critics from other countries) precise simulation on super computer is necessary. Also to solve fluid dynamics problems (for example to develop advanced jet engines or silent submarine propeller, which the Chinese desperately need), detailed simulation on super computer is absolutely a must. Now running LinPack to show off some nice PR numbers is one thing but actually writing an own efficient (and correct) simulation) on massive parallel systems is a thing of another level. It surely helps if one can draw on the massive highly optimized numerical libraries built for the x86/64 instruction set. It certainly will not hinder either in case one has stolen properties software and code from western companies!
- khuey 7y ago
  China demonstrated a 4 megaton explosion in 1976. Tsar Bomba was in 1961. You really don't need modern computers for this.
  - sinuhe69 7y ago
    But you can not put a tzar bomb on a rocket, that can be fired from a silo or even from a submarine. And to threat America and Europe your rocket need to flight 10000 miles or more and reach Mach 5 or even faster. All possible only with high yield, compact warheads and advanced rocketry, which the Chinese do not have yet.
    - khuey 7y ago
      The DF-5 can carry those 4Mt warheads, has a 12k+ km range, and has been around since 1981.
- adinobro 7y ago
  China already had a top supercomputer a long time before this happened. They didn't need x86 for this... It helps in the future but for this scenario, it makes not difference.