X-Message-Number: 12928
From: "John Clark" <>
Subject: Blue Gene
Date: Sun, 12 Dec 1999 13:03:58 -0500

In  #12925 On  Sat, 11 Dec 1999  RHA <>Wrote:

    > as described, at the neural level, "Blue Gene" would perform
    >5x more operations per second than the human brain [5 = (4)/(3)].

Maybe, but what does that have to do with the price of eggs?
I thought we were talking about protein folding.

    >Conclusion: Blue Gene ain't no protein folder.

Huh? You lost me. I don't even know if you're complaining that Blue Gene
is too big or too small to solve protein folding, personally I worry that it
may still be too small.

    >That's one quadrillion (US, not british) operations per second.
    >You really think IBM's gonna waste that on protein folding?

I certainly do! A solution to the protein folding problem would be worth
hundreds of billions of dollars, it not trillions.

    >The proposed computer "Blue Gene" strikes me as a
    >"Glomar Explorer" type trojan horse.

I think somebody is getting a little paranoid around here.

      John K Clark      

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