Handling the Challenges of Building HPC Systems We Need

By K. Charles Janac, Arteris
EETimes (September 6, 2023)

What is the secret of humanity’s success? What has given us the ability to build wonders, such as Stonehenge in England, the Pyramids of Egypt and the Great Wall of China? Humans are small, weak and slow compared with many other animals. So what has equipped us with the capacity to spread across the globe, visit the ocean’s depths, walk on the moon and—in the not-so-distant future—travel to other planets in our solar system? The ability to think abstractly, use language to communicate complex ideas and collaborate are the determining factors.

Our capacity to communicate has been augmented by storing and sharing acquired knowledge. The earliest known writing system was cuneiform, which originated in Mesopotamia around 3100 BCE. Later, in Europe, it became common to use parchment and vellum. The Chinese created paper in 105 CE, but it still required humans to transcribe information one character at a time, which was time-consuming and inherently prone to error. The invention of the movable-type printing press in 1440 CE was a game-changer, leading to the widespread creation and distribution of numerous books. This, in turn, enabled human knowledge to grow exponentially. Until a few decades ago, books were the primary source of information for most people.

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