Probability processor GP5 by Lyric

[red]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08...ity_processor/

Here's the difference. Reynolds says that a data center filled with servers that are calculating probabilities for, say, a financial model, will be able to consolidate from thousands of servers down to a single GP5 appliance to calculate probabilities.

First up is the Lyric Error Correction chip, which is in its second generation today and ready for licensing. This LEC chip is fabbed by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp using a very cheap 180 nanometer process that was perfected a zillion years ago.

But the LEC chip that Lyric has created can be tiled to create fixed-function ECC for flash drives that can expand from 1 Gb/sec to 6 Gb/sec of bandwidth and yet be 30 to 70 times smaller than equivalent digital ECC circuits, use one-twelfth the power, and have four times the I/O bandwidth per pin between the flash memory and its controller.

[SamHughe]

Only if somebody find a way to utilize this in a RPG or MMORPG.

[red]

The company spoke directly with TGDaily.

http://www.tgdaily.com/games-and-ent...tionize-gaming

"For example, computing millions or billions of probabilities per second, a character engine running on the GP5 would be able to control the limbs of a character in life-like ways as they traverse rugged terrain, help the character plan its path through the gaming world, trade-off the relative importance of its goals and even enable it to adapt to the gamer's actions in surprising ways.

"Indeed, if chess playing computers can strategize against human players in the constrained space of a chess board, could tomorrow's probability processor strategize against human players in the much more open-ended and diverse worlds of video games?

[570091D]

"Indeed, if chess playing computers can strategize against human players in the constrained space of a chess board, could tomorrow's probability processor strategize against human players in the much more open-ended and diverse worlds of video games?

whoa! suddenly i feel as though my computer is challenging me...

[Manicdan]

sounds like this is built for all the little micromanagement that gives you good visuals but maybe not "AI" in the sense we think of it.

[hecktic]

online casinos and gambling version 2.0

[Particle]

Fuzzy logic. Now there's the beginning of Skynet. heh

[Serra]

I don't understand how the article says that they will be doing basic research into the chip until 2013, and that the chip will also start sampling in 2013. There's usually more of a disconnect between basic research and actual sampling (eg. the part where you analyze your research and develop the product).

It would be neat if they could do it, but it's obviously not an easy thing... and $20 million over a 7 year term (2006 - 2013, let alone beyond that to sampling) really isn't that much money at all either. It works out to a tad under less than $100k/person (30 person team), which really isn't that much for a high-quality researcher these days... and that doesn't count equipment, space, etc. I hope they can do it, but unless they have more funding that just wasn't mentioned I'm not going to hold my breath.

[red]

http://gigaom.com/2010/08/16/lyric-semiconducto/

Data is represented as bits (1s and 0s). Boolean logic gates perform operations on these bits. Lyric has invented a new kind of logic gate circuit that uses transistors as dimmer switches instead of as on/off switches. These circuits can accept inputs and calculate outputs that are between 0 and 1, directly representing probabilities – levels of certainty.

The GP5 will run code written in Lyric’s own probability programming language called PSBL (Probability Synthesis to Bayesian Logic), an expressive computer programming language for working with probability based computations.

Vigoda, the CEO, is an MIT guy, so he's smart if nothing else.

[terrace215]

Dimmer-switches sounds like it would be difficult to guarantee the same results from run-to-run, and one could imagine errors blowing up rapidly in some computations. One suspects the applications might be more limited than the company suggests.

[red]

Dimmer-switches sounds like it would be difficult to guarantee the same results from run-to-run, and one could imagine errors blowing up rapidly in some computations. One suspects the applications might be more limited than the company suggests.

I don't have any idea how "dimmer switches" work, but if Intel can get silicon laser photonics, light beams moving around the CPU, this sounds similar on a high-level basis.

[saaya]

uhm... do we really want our world economy to be watched and managed by a "probably" good server system instead of a "definitely" good server system?

[zalbard]

Fuzzy logic. Now there's the beginning of Skynet. heh

And the end for all of us!

uhm... do we really want our world economy to be watched and managed by a "probably" good server system instead of a "definitely" good server system?

Can still use "definitely" good systems and have them managed by "probably" good systems to replace those managers watching pr0n *cough*!

[tool_462]

uhm... do we really want our world economy to be watched and managed by a "probably" good server system instead of a "definitely" good server system?

Probably != probability.

Unless I'm missing "probably" somewhere

[-Boris-]

Could this mean improved branch prediction?

[kl0012]

Time machine, any one?

[-Boris-]

Time machine, any one?

A machine I would avoid.

[red]

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articl...omputer-power/

What does that mean in practice? To solve a sudoku problem or fold a protein, a digital computer will look at a vast number of all possible combinations. A probability processor would look at the basic rules (e.g., you can't have the same number twice in the same line or these two amino acids can't bond) and build from there. In the end, that leads to less power consumption.

Yeah, from what I understand, current folding software tests every possible combination. If this lyric processor is feasible, it would only test combinations that make sense. Sort of like FoldIt, but with an algorithm or something.

[jogshy]

DARPA... area 51's tech for sure !
I bet I cannot play Crysis with that... but if I could... would the Crys's aliens come from outside the chip? I bet yes...

[red]

A bit late, but Ars explains things really well.

http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news...bly-potent.ars

[Sn0wm@n]

uhm... do we really want our world economy to be watched and managed by a "probably" good server system instead of a "definitely" good server system?

i was under the impression that cpu's were trying answers until they came to the right conclusion using some fancy math algorithm to figure it out easily

[Chumbucket843]

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articl...omputer-power/

Yeah, from what I understand, current folding software tests every possible combination. If this lyric processor is feasible, it would only test combinations that make sense. Sort of like FoldIt, but with an algorithm or something.

not exactly. it uses a field of statistical mechanics. force calculations take vastly more time than any other part such as random number generation.

A bit late, but Ars explains things really well.

http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news...bly-potent.ars

sigh...

analog circuits do not scale down well on modern processes and are prone to all sorts of issues. they may get a performance advantage now but making it faster will be very difficult. they are also not as fast or dense as their digital counterparts.

oh and i thought that explanation was not all that great. the paragraph on boolean logic was completely incoherent and did not even back up the topic sentence.

[Blauhung]

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articl...omputer-power/

Yeah, from what I understand, current folding software tests every possible combination. If this lyric processor is feasible, it would only test combinations that make sense. Sort of like FoldIt, but with an algorithm or something.

and it would actually be more like it does test every combination, just doesn't get the exact values of the total free energy of the system, more of a probability of the system existing. and does all this faster and using less energy. But the overall result of the calculation is no longer exact, just a best guess

[EnJoY]

online casinos and gambling version 2.0

That's what I want this for. $$$

[Xoulz]

Only if somebody find a way to utilize this in a RPG or MMORPG.

OMG.. no cheating, server side hit detection & movement, etc..


Premium MMO anyone? ($30/month)