IBM and Samsung Unveil Semiconductor Breakthrough • Hacker News Board

Re: IBM and Samsung Unveil Semiconductor Breakthrough

#71

Post by Aicy » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 12:20 AM UTC

ephbit wrote: post #64

simonh wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand where you are right now, but the fact is central banks aren’t knowingly creating inequality, and aside from the ponzi scheme aspect the only economic use of cryptocurrencies is financing crime. I’m not going to persuade you now, so I wont try. Put a pin in your expectations for the future and revisit this in a few years or a decade’s time. Look at whether any of the extreme outcomes you are predicting no…

> I understand where you are right now, but the fact is central banks aren’t knowingly creating inequality ... Phew ... what else is happening when most (if not all) of this money is brought into the economy at the level of financial assets? Do poor people get to see any of this money? Give me one example except for the US one time payment to citizens. Easy conclusion, if poor people aren't seeing any of this additio…

> Do poor people get to see any of this money? Give me one example except for the US one time payment to citizens.

The UK government's furlough scheme which gave all people who lost their jobs to Covid 80% of their previous salary from March 2020 to September 2021.

Denmark's similar furlough scheme.

Germany's similar furlough scheme which will last over 24 months (it also used a similar scheme in the 2008 - 2009 financial crises.)

There's four examples.

You keep saying "central banks" while also talking as if the US is the only country in the world.

Re: IBM and Samsung Unveil Semiconductor Breakthrough

#72

Post by throwawaylinux » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 1:34 AM UTC

RobLach wrote: post #20

tmaly wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was also mention of a 2nm process

Xnm is pure marketing at this point. # of transistors / area is the closest metric to compare different processes against, which this should be a step up from the status quo.

transistors / area is not necessarily better, because not all transistors are equal and the other major components which are wiring and manufacturing rules can be as big a factor as transistors.

It's not uncommon for chips to have Different performance metrics also improve at different rates, are inter-related, non-linear, etc. A new process might be able to produce a CPU that is 20% faster or use 50% less power with a 20% area reduction, or using 20% less power might allow a 50% area reduction.

Process naming is not a big conspiracy to confuse people. Yes there's a bit of marketing and investor relations involved (probably internal politics too), but if you could only use a single number to describe a process, transistors/area is not any better than a made-up "goodness" ratio vs previous processes that we have now.

Re: IBM and Samsung Unveil Semiconductor Breakthrough

#73

Post by TheSpiceIsLife » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 4:30 AM UTC

thedougd wrote: post #54

sbierwagen wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Sunk cost" is for money you've already spent! The sunk cost here is my existing forced-air electric heat, which is already installed in my house and already turns 1 watt of electricity into 1 watt of heat, or the other space heater I bought ten years ago and can easily put anywhere I need spot heating. If the goal is turn electricity into heat and nothing else, then I am already well supplied with ways to do that.

Or a heat pump that uses 1 watt of electricity to move 6 watts of heat into your house.

Under ideal conditions.

What the sales people neglect to tell you is their efficiency drops precipitously as the temperature approaches zero.

Heat pumps are much more consistently efficient in their other configuration as an air conditioner.

Re: IBM and Samsung Unveil Semiconductor Breakthrough

#74

Post by TheSpiceIsLife » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 4:41 AM UTC

sbierwagen wrote: post #33

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not entirely worthless, given you’ve already sunk the cost they’d still be an effective space heater.

"Sunk cost" is for money you've already spent! The sunk cost here is my existing forced-air electric heat, which is already installed in my house and already turns 1 watt of electricity into 1 watt of heat, or the other space heater I bought ten years ago and can easily put anywhere I need spot heating. If the goal is turn electricity into heat and nothing else, then I am already well supplied with ways to do that.

Yes, sorry, I should have written: you’d’ve.

Assuming you had already bought the mining rig, it would continue to function as a heater regardless of legislative changes, and act as a redundant system to your existing heaters to boot.

Re: IBM and Samsung Unveil Semiconductor Breakthrough

#75

Post by usrusr » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 1:50 PM UTC

naveen99 wrote: post #48

verytrivial wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would not march in the streets in protest if laws were passed curtailing proof-of-waste cryptocurrencies.

Diamonds are a proof of waste. Havans are a proof of waste. superbowl ads are a proof of waste. But waste is proof. Proof is valuable (not a waste).

Nobody runs a hashrate burner because they feel like sinking the cost. They all do because of ways to make others pay for the waste and profit from it. Those attempts at simile are beyond broken.

Re: IBM and Samsung Unveil Semiconductor Breakthrough

#76

Post by RobLach » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 6:32 PM UTC

throwawaylinux wrote: post #72

RobLach wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Xnm is pure marketing at this point. # of transistors / area is the closest metric to compare different processes against, which this should be a step up from the status quo.

transistors / area is not necessarily better, because not all transistors are equal and the other major components which are wiring and manufacturing rules can be as big a factor as transistors. It's not uncommon for chips to have Different performance metrics also improve at different rates, are inter-related, non-linear, etc. A new process might be able to produce a CPU that is 20% faster or use 50% less power with…

That's true.

Re: IBM and Samsung Unveil Semiconductor Breakthrough

#77

Post by hda2 » Sat, Dec 18, 2021, 8:45 PM UTC

verytrivial wrote: post #51

naveen99 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Diamonds are a proof of waste. Havans are a proof of waste. superbowl ads are a proof of waste. But waste is proof. Proof is valuable (not a waste).

Please make the rest of your point. You listed some other awful things.

GP did a good job making his point. Human beings need to prove certain things somehow. Seemingly wasteful things like printing colored paper to trade satisfy this need.

Re: IBM and Samsung Unveil Semiconductor Breakthrough

#78

Post by verytrivial » Mon, Dec 20, 2021, 12:17 PM UTC

hda2 wrote: post #77

verytrivial wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please make the rest of your point. You listed some other awful things.

GP did a good job making his point. Human beings need to prove certain things somehow. Seemingly wasteful things like printing colored paper to trade satisfy this need.

Your example does not seem to be an extravegantly wasteful activity though. Perhaps you missed my point?

Bitcoin is around 1,000 pounds of CO2 per transaction. That's about a 1,000 mile journey for an average US car, or nearer 2,000 in Europe. For a single operation on a currency?

Is this cool with you?