Will I ever own a zettaflop?
2 days ago
- #computational-power
- #personal-ambition
- #future-technology
- The author envisions owning a zettaflop machine, which is 1,000 exaflops or 1e21 FLOPS, enabling immense computational power.
- Current technology like comma has an exaflop, but the dream is to command a zettaflop for tasks like searching all books, solving problems, and simulating 50,000 aligned workers in minutes.
- A key bottleneck is power consumption; with improvements, a zettaflop might need 10 MW, achievable with 250 acres of solar panels and energy storage.
- Cost estimates include $10M for the machine, $10M for solar panels, and $10M for land and construction, with optimism about owning it within a lifetime.
- The author references Vernor Vinge's 'True Names' to describe the overwhelming sensory experience of such power, yet desires to control it like a personal device.