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U.S. Invests $258M in Supercomputing Race with China

wsj.com

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Re: U.S. Invests $258M in Supercomputing Race with China

#61

Post by nitwit005 »

jacquesm wrote: post #46
nitwit005 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, faster super computers aren't going to affect the balance of power. There is a ridiculous amount of computer power available already.

I'm not so sure about that. Faster super computers allow you to do all kinds of things that would otherwise be quite hard. Think of supercomputers as weapons that you can fire very quietly, nobody even notices that you just tested some new (possibly nuclear) weapons system or that you designed some fighter jet, submarine or rocket. Super computers are a game changer, not having them is as much as ceding territory, ha…

I didn't say they weren't useful, but, as noted, we already have tons of processing power. Diminishing returns kick in at some point with any sort of investment like this. Tossing a few more super computers at labs isn't going to shake the world.

You can even get time on machines that aren't in the country. I'm sure Chinese experiments have run on US supercomputers at this point.

Re: U.S. Invests $258M in Supercomputing Race with China

#62

Post by dis-sys »

alexeldeib wrote: post #52
ori_b wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars

Adding onto this, consider that China was, for a relatively long period in its development, the dominant power in its interactions. Interactions with the colonial West in the 1800s were a dramatic departure from long term history in a number of ways. At the end of the 1800s, the Sino Japanese War was also a major defeat for the Chinese. From a certain perspective, the current state of affairs could be viewed as somet…

"the current state of affairs could be viewed as something of a long-term return to normal"

CCP has its own "Make China Great Again" thing, officially known as "The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation".

https://www.amazon.com/CHINESE-DREAM-GREAT-REJUVENATION-NATI...

Re: U.S. Invests $258M in Supercomputing Race with China

#63

Post by dang »

meric wrote: post #32

I've spent a lot of time in country X. They all want Y. Okay. That's the kind of crap that was in the 1800's, that's still in the 2010's, unfortunately. Your words sound like something from a grown up bully jealous of their victim's achievements in life.

> Your words sound like something from a grown up bully jealous

This crosses into incivility and personal attack, and those things are not allowed here. Please edit all that out of your comments when you post.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14565533 and marked it off-topic.

Re: U.S. Invests $258M in Supercomputing Race with China

#64

Post by dis-sys »

This is just stupid. US basically sent out a signal to its competitor to demand them to invest more heavily on their own R&D capabilities- what Chinese universities, research institutions and companies are going to do with such news? They take it to the Chinese central government to ask for more R&D funding.

Think about it - what China can possibly lose in such a race? When Americans are trying to maintain its No.1 ranking in the field, Chinese are just trying to further modernize its industry which stands at less than $10k GDP per capita, you can probably beat the next generation Chinese supercomputer, but hey, you are pushing for the creation/improvement of the Chinese supercomputing community!

Think about it again - what China can possibly lose in such a race? America won't lose its overall dominance just because some other countries have faster supercomputers, America is losing its influence around the global when it stupidly using its borrowed resources to force its main competitor (also No.1/2 debt owner) for more R&D spending.

Re: U.S. Invests $258M in Supercomputing Race with China

#65

Post by nippples »

dis-sys wrote: post #64

This is just stupid. US basically sent out a signal to its competitor to demand them to invest more heavily on their own R&D capabilities- what Chinese universities, research institutions and companies are going to do with such news? They take it to the Chinese central government to ask for more R&D funding. Think about it - what China can possibly lose in such a race? When Americans are trying to maintain its No.1 r…

Son, you're not making too much sense. Of all things to be mad about, tech investments isn't one of them.

Re: U.S. Invests $258M in Supercomputing Race with China

#66

Post by linkregister »

dragonwriter wrote: post #55
myrandomcomment wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The claim of the South China Sea is a violation of International Law and the Convention of the Sea. China has publicly acknowledged they are pointing DF-16 missiles at Taiwan. China has publicly stated they will use force to prevent an independent Taiwan, despite the fact that Taiwan is a functioning democracy, unlike China. China arrest and brutalized dissidents. The rule of law in China is what ever the current lea…

> The USA makes stupid mistakes sometimes, but they alway eventually sort it and sort it on the right side of history even if it takes time. There are several areas where the US has not yet done so (including some that are older than the US, like treatment of Native Americans, and including some where it's heading in the opposite direction of the right side), so the idea that the US always does so is empty nationalis…

Yeah, myrandomcomment makes some excellent points, but the U.S. has plenty of unresolved wrongs. Compared to most aggressor countries, it is possible that the U.S. has the best ratio of reparations to destruction, but that doesn't mean it is blameless.

A non-exhaustive list of the countries the U.S. owes in terms of reparations for wrongdoing:

1. Iran

2. Nicaragua

3. Dominican Republic

4. Haiti

5. Cuba

Re: U.S. Invests $258M in Supercomputing Race with China

#67

Post by adrianN »

dis-sys wrote: post #64

This is just stupid. US basically sent out a signal to its competitor to demand them to invest more heavily on their own R&D capabilities- what Chinese universities, research institutions and companies are going to do with such news? They take it to the Chinese central government to ask for more R&D funding. Think about it - what China can possibly lose in such a race? When Americans are trying to maintain its No.1 r…

More R&D spending is usually good for humanity, no matter what country foots the bill, so I'm okay with this development.

Re: U.S. Invests $258M in Supercomputing Race with China

#68

Post by linkregister »

meric wrote: post #47
myrandomcomment wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know I am not Chinese or my wife is not? Or my best friend? Or someone in my family? I wish the best for China and the Chinese people. I hope for a peaceful and prosperous future. That however does not involve the threat to take Taiwan by force or claiming all of the South China Sea as theirs. What I was trying to say is that my opinion is not informed based on what I have read in the press but based on th…

Well, for one, I am Chinese. My parents are Chinese, so are my grandparents, and their grandparents. I've listened to my grandmother talk about her grandparents, who are from the 1800's. Of course we're drawn to movies and books and TV shows from that era. Same reason why teenagers in Europe are interested in Medieval stuff and Roman empire stuff. It's part of their history. Is China taking Taiwan by force? Taiwan ha…

> Lots of governments do lots of crap,

> And what does U.S. has anything to do with any of this stuff, anyway

This is whataboutism and has far less relevance in foreign affairs than in interpersonal ones.

The U.S. Government has incentives to keeping the South China Sea's international boundaries in line with the U.N. treaties. Much of, if not most, of the world's trade passes through there. Since the U.S. economy depends on this trade, it is considered to be one of the most important things to protect.

The U.S., just like every country, is primarily self-interested. It makes sense for the U.S. to want to contain what it perceives as aggressive moves to claim what have previously been considered international waters.

In the spirit of fairness, the Russian Federation considers NATO enrollments of neighboring countries to be aggressive behavior on the part of the U.S. The U.S. isn't the only country threatened by apparently threatening behavior.

The U.S. would defend its involvement in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and in Pacific Rim countries in terms of its self-interest for stability in those reasons, stability being a euphemism for unrestricted trade.

> Ukraine

I'm not familiar with U.S. involvement in Ukraine; it's not a NATO member and the U.S. hasn't (publicly) committed forces there.

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