I am now officially worried

[PointyHairedJedi]

Britain's most powerful super computer has received a £52m boost from the government.

When it is built in 2007, the high spec number cruncher will be faster than any in Europe.

The High-End Computing Terascale Resource, or Hector as it is known, will be owned by the Research Councils of the UK.

It will be used by scientists to simulate everything from climate change to atomic structures.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4866258.stm

The thing that immediately grabs me is that Hector is so very close to Hactar, and given that it's being built in the birthplace of cricket, I for one am now really rather trepidatious about the whole affair. :?

It'll all end in tears, I'm telling you!

[Naki]

I don't know about you but I'm getting my towel ready.

Now if I could only find my copy of the Guide...

[Lostoyannaya]

I don't know about you but I'm getting my towel ready.

Now if I could only find my copy of the Guide...

Borders, £5.99 for paperback, or Bordersonline £509.99 for the E-Book. It has moving pictures, don't you know. :wink:

On the original topic: Is it even ethical to build a computer that clever? Look what happened in Colossus (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0064177/).

~~Lostoyannaya :wink:

[MaverickZer0]

Hector? Uh-oh. How do you guard against Armads?
</obscure game reference>

[e of pi]

Scary...

[PointyHairedJedi]

There is only one who can save us now - the fabled Dentarthurdent! Only he, with his total lack of bowling skills, shall save us from the emerging menace. Of course, I suppose if we're doing it ass-backwards then he's got to come from some other planet, like the one that Tony Blair hails from.

[Lostoyannaya]

Either that or we get William Shatner to talk to it.

Or we stuff Bran Flakes in the DVD drive.

Or we get Microsoft to take over the project, thus delaying it another half-century.

~~Lostoyannaya :wink:

[Delta Lurker]

You mean this is an evil computer project Microsoft aren't already involved in? :shock:

[PointyHairedJedi]

Or we get Microsoft to take over the project, thus delaying it another half-century.
Building it using a PFI scheme would also have much the same effect.

[MaverickZer0]

Or we get Microsoft to take over the project, thus delaying it another half-century.
Building it using a PFI scheme would also have much the same effect.

Then let's do both. None of us will live to see the results, and after that, who really cares?

[Chancellor Valium]

::Give it an Orb Experience::

[Xeroc]

You guys do realize that we in the USA already have one that's three times as fast (http://www.research.ibm.com/bluegene/)? :D


Just sayin'. :P

[Zeke]

::Give it an Orb Experience::

You've watched too many of those Orb shampoo commercials.

[Chancellor Valium]

::Give it an Orb Experience::

You've watched too many of those Orb shampoo commercials.

Walk *our* path, the path of the *True* Prophets.

[Lostoyannaya]

::Give it an Orb Experience::

You've watched too many of those Orb shampoo commercials.

Walk *our* path, the path of the *True* Prophets.

And so it begins.

~~Lostoyannaya

[Chancellor Valium]

Indeed. The Time of the Reckoning is at hand. It is the end...Or the beginning.