5 ms·

It buys time for three letter agency to counteract bad intentions.

by brutt 7y ago

walrus01 7y ago
Based on the number of Chinese supercomputers in the public top500 list I don't see any effectiveness to it. https://www.top500.org/lists/2019/11/ https://www.top500.org/lists/2019/11/
- klingonopera 7y ago
  If you look at the core count, you'll see a stark difference between the supercomputers in the West and China. For the same perfomance, a Western supercomputer probably fills a room, and a Chinese one the whole datacenter. Add to that, that the physical distance plays a big role in lantencies, and China may be able to do supercomputer, but it is probably very expensive and inefficient for them. I have never operated or seen a supercomputer, so all of this is speculation on my part.
- skylanh 7y ago
  The top Chinese based supercomputer requires twice the power and 6 times the number of cores. The next requires three times the power and 3 times the cores to produce 60% of the number two supercomputer. Seems like it's a case of "increase operational friction".
  - walrus01 7y ago
    Compared to the amount of megawatt-hours being spent right now in China on bitcoin mining and cryptocurrency mining operations, the friction of having a slightly less efficient and more space hungry supercomputer seems slight... Considering the resources of the government entities that own and operate them.
baybal2 7y ago
> It buys time for three letter agency to counteract bad intentions. I see zero basis in reality for this and much more "logical legitimisations" of much of cretinism of security bureaucracy. Public security is supposed to be ran by smart or at least above average intelligence people. They make every effort to demonstrate the opposite with their actions. Take a look at airline security, or, well, pretty much security at every public venue for that... What's the point of obsessive screenings in airports when at most they are guarded by 20-30 poorly trained security guards or low rank military officers who didn't make it to regular forces? Police in China is normally banned from carrying firearms, and a lot of public facilities are not guarded whatsoever in comparison to what you see in the West, yet you don't hear of sabotages happening every day.
- gruez 7y ago
  >and a lot of public facilities are not guarded whatsoever in comparison to what you see in the West For example?
  - baybal2 7y ago
    Well, before 2013 a lot of airports and railway stations had civilian security guards, and often no more than a dozen of them. I once ended up mistaking one quite high up security establishment for an office building. It took me few minutes to realise where I am and get the fk out. Nevertheless, I haven't seen myself descended on by security. Some military installations used to not even have a fence. I do remember flying on civilian flights from Shadi airbase at around 2011. The terminal and the airfield were there in the open field.

It buys time for three letter agency to counteract bad intentions.

by brutt 7y ago

It buys time for three letter agency to counteract bad intentions.

Based on the number of Chinese supercomputers in the public top500 list I don't see any effectiveness to it. https://www.top500.org/lists/2019/11/ https://www.top500.org/lists/2019/11/

klingonopera 7y ago
If you look at the core count, you'll see a stark difference between the supercomputers in the West and China. For the same perfomance, a Western supercomputer probably fills a room, and a Chinese one the whole datacenter. Add to that, that the physical distance plays a big role in lantencies, and China may be able to do supercomputer, but it is probably very expensive and inefficient for them. I have never operated or seen a supercomputer, so all of this is speculation on my part.
skylanh 7y ago
The top Chinese based supercomputer requires twice the power and 6 times the number of cores. The next requires three times the power and 3 times the cores to produce 60% of the number two supercomputer. Seems like it's a case of "increase operational friction".
- walrus01 7y ago
  Compared to the amount of megawatt-hours being spent right now in China on bitcoin mining and cryptocurrency mining operations, the friction of having a slightly less efficient and more space hungry supercomputer seems slight... Considering the resources of the government entities that own and operate them.

baybal2 7y ago

> It buys time for three letter agency to counteract bad intentions. I see zero basis in reality for this and much more "logical legitimisations" of much of cretinism of security bureaucracy. Public security is supposed to be ran by smart or at least above average intelligence people. They make every effort to demonstrate the opposite with their actions. Take a look at airline security, or, well, pretty much security at every public venue for that... What's the point of obsessive screenings in airports when at most they are guarded by 20-30 poorly trained security guards or low rank military officers who didn't make it to regular forces? Police in China is normally banned from carrying firearms, and a lot of public facilities are not guarded whatsoever in comparison to what you see in the West, yet you don't hear of sabotages happening every day.

gruez 7y ago
>and a lot of public facilities are not guarded whatsoever in comparison to what you see in the West For example?
- baybal2 7y ago
  Well, before 2013 a lot of airports and railway stations had civilian security guards, and often no more than a dozen of them. I once ended up mistaking one quite high up security establishment for an office building. It took me few minutes to realise where I am and get the fk out. Nevertheless, I haven't seen myself descended on by security. Some military installations used to not even have a fence. I do remember flying on civilian flights from Shadi airbase at around 2011. The terminal and the airfield were there in the open field.