On Fri, Apr 19, 2013 at 5:51 AM, Jean-Paul Van Belle < [email protected]> wrote:
> Hi Steve > > > > When supercomputers are retired, it usually (always?) means that their > running costs (energy costs + maintenance cost) exceed their computational > benefits. If you do the calculations, I have a hunch that: > > - It will be more cost-effective for you and better for our > planet were you to install a heat-pump (heats in winter, cools in summer) > and use the monetary savings to buy time on a cluster or spend it on cloud > computing resources whose designers locate and build datacentres to > maximize performance/(cost & energy) ratio. > where can you get such a heat-pump that costs less than a super-computer? I know can get one of the toy ones for a hundred or more, like one that you can use for heating a home, must be thousands. > - Instead of spending most if not all of your available time > trying to keep your home supercomputer running, you can use that time more > effectively designing AGI or earning money to buy super/cloud-computer time. > > Just my one-cent. > > > > Jean-Paul > > > > *From:* Steve Richfield [mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* 18 April 2013 22:05 > *To:* AGI > *Subject:* Re: [agi] I want an obsolete supercomputer... > > > > Samantha, > > As you are doubtless aware, supercomputers have computational abilities 3 > or more orders of magnitude beyond home computers. > > My son Ed and I have been playing at simulating biologically believable > neural networks for quite a while. However, it is hard to do much of > anything on a home computer, because they are soooo sloooow. Interactivity > - forget it. > > Perhaps you have noticed some of my postings regarding the apparent need > to compute on dP/dt rather than naked probabilities, as being apparently > necessary for temporal learning. This means computing in real time, or at > least slowed down real time. > > All this is leading to needing a computer that is a LOT faster than > "modern" home computers. Whatever we get to heat one of our homes still > won't be enough, but it will be 3 orders of magnitude closer - maybe even > enough to gather some performance stats to help guide future efforts. > > This entire field is heading toward a "hump", as more-than-human computing > power will be necessary to get real-world algorithms running, so they can > be fine tuned to run on 1% of the hardware needed to get over the hump. I > was just looking to explore a foothill. > > Steve > ================= > > On Thu, Apr 18, 2013 at 12:42 PM, Samantha Atkins <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > > > On Sat, Apr 13, 2013 at 1:41 PM, Steve Richfield < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > > So, if anyone hears of an obsolete supercomputer becoming available, > please let me know and/or pass my contact information on to whoever now has > the supercomputer. > > > > > > What would you use it for exactly? Personally I own six computers not > counting phones and tablets and an instance or two in the cloud. I would > be quite proud if I kept those machines busy on something productive beyond > running folding at home or the equivalent. That is I would be quite proud > if I put them to work successfully myself on things I personally care about > a great deal. > > So I am more interested in how to keep machines productively busy than in > having a furnace that also computes. > > - samantha > > > > > > *AGI* | Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now> > <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/10443978-6f4c28ac>| > Modify <https://www.listbox.com/member/?&;> Your Subscription > > <http://www.listbox.com> > > > > > -- > Full employment can be had with the stoke of a pen. Simply institute a six > hour workday. That will easily create enough new jobs to bring back full > employment. > > *AGI* | Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now> > <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/5404257-22a42d7f>| > Modify <https://www.listbox.com/member/?&;> Your Subscription > > <http://www.listbox.com> > > > ------------------------------ > UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN > > This e-mail is subject to the UCT ICT policies and e-mail disclaimer > published on our website at > http://www.uct.ac.za/about/policies/emaildisclaimer/ or obtainable from +27 > 21 650 9111. This e-mail is intended only for the person(s) to whom it is > addressed. If the e-mail has reached you in error, please notify the > author. If you are not the intended recipient of the e-mail you may not > use, disclose, copy, redirect or print the content. 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