4 ms·

Nun new. Supercomputing has been used in Oil & Gas exploration for decades.

jgalt212 7y ago
Indeed, but interestingly enough the book, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power, only has 9 mentions of the word computer and zero for supercomputer. The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power https://www.amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Quest-Money-Power/dp/1439110123 https://www.amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Quest-Money-Power/dp/14391...
- dredmorbius 7y ago
  The Prize is an excellent history, though one with some very curious omissions.
- EricE 7y ago
  From the authors Bio: "Daniel Yergin is the author of the bestseller The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World which has been hailed as “a fascinating saga” about the “quest for sustainable resources of energy,” and “the book you must read to understand the future of our economy and our way of life,” ..." So it's more a book to persuade (feelings) than inform (facts) - no wonder they aren't mentioned. Know what you're reading.
  - dekhn 7y ago
    The book is loaded with facts. It just doesn't focus on the computational aspect (more focus on the geopolitical details). I strongly recommend this book- I understood a lot more about modern power after reading The Quest and The Prize.
  - jgalt212 7y ago
    I know I read a book that won the Pulitzer. https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/daniel-yergin https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/daniel-yergin and I know you the passage you cite from his bio is not in related to the book I cited.
johnthescott 7y ago
can i hear an amen? and a huh? who did the research at wsj for this article?
- egdod 7y ago
  https://www.epsilontheory.com/gell-mann-amnesia/ https://www.epsilontheory.com/gell-mann-amnesia/
eru 7y ago
Actually, the news for me is that Oil & Gas exploration still has needs for computing that's considered significant today. Basically, I can see that they needed super computers in the 80s. But I might have assumed that their computing needs wouldn't keep scaling with supply. So that by now, just renting some GPUs from Amazon might be enough.
- linksnapzz 7y ago
  A former employer of mine had lots of oil companies as clients for their CFD software...for most of the problem sets, the memory use was in the TBs, and it's tough to get a GPU with more than 16-24GB of onboard RAM.

Indeed, but interestingly enough the book, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power, only has 9 mentions of the word computer and zero for supercomputer. The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power https://www.amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Quest-Money-Power/dp/1439110123 https://www.amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Quest-Money-Power/dp/14391...

dredmorbius 7y ago
The Prize is an excellent history, though one with some very curious omissions.
EricE 7y ago
From the authors Bio: "Daniel Yergin is the author of the bestseller The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World which has been hailed as “a fascinating saga” about the “quest for sustainable resources of energy,” and “the book you must read to understand the future of our economy and our way of life,” ..." So it's more a book to persuade (feelings) than inform (facts) - no wonder they aren't mentioned. Know what you're reading.
- dekhn 7y ago
  The book is loaded with facts. It just doesn't focus on the computational aspect (more focus on the geopolitical details). I strongly recommend this book- I understood a lot more about modern power after reading The Quest and The Prize.
- jgalt212 7y ago
  I know I read a book that won the Pulitzer. https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/daniel-yergin https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/daniel-yergin and I know you the passage you cite from his bio is not in related to the book I cited.

johnthescott 7y ago

can i hear an amen? and a huh? who did the research at wsj for this article?

egdod 7y ago
https://www.epsilontheory.com/gell-mann-amnesia/ https://www.epsilontheory.com/gell-mann-amnesia/

eru 7y ago

Actually, the news for me is that Oil & Gas exploration still has needs for computing that's considered significant today. Basically, I can see that they needed super computers in the 80s. But I might have assumed that their computing needs wouldn't keep scaling with supply. So that by now, just renting some GPUs from Amazon might be enough.

linksnapzz 7y ago
A former employer of mine had lots of oil companies as clients for their CFD software...for most of the problem sets, the memory use was in the TBs, and it's tough to get a GPU with more than 16-24GB of onboard RAM.