It’s sobering to realise that each of us has a brain capacity measuring roughly 1350cc. That sounds OK when compared to, say, a 0.5cc mouse, but in automotive terms it doesn’t seem quite so hot. Most of us would be hard pressed to beat a clapped-out Ford Escort. But it could be worse – at least most of us manage to fire on all cylinders most of the time. In computing terms, we fare slightly better, with each of us boasting at least 100 teraflops, according to one of the best brains in the artificial brains business. The UK’s fastest computer, by contrast, can demonstrate only about nine teraflops by calling on the services of more than 2,100 IBM Power4+ processors running at 1.9GHz. That supercomputer runs a vast model of our planet’s atmosphere and ocean, for
weather-forecasting purposes. Sneak can of course do that too, given a strong-enough cup of coffee and a window to look out of – but it never really feels as if there is still 91 percent capacity remaining. So there is only one conclusion: there must be a software issue. Anyone know where Sneak can get a grey-matter firmware upgrade?

05 Oct 2004