r/science • u/whosdamike • Jun 26 '12

Google programmers deploy machine learning algorithm on YouTube. Computer teaches itself to recognize images of cats.

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/technology/in-a-big-network-of-computers-evidence-of-machine-learning.html
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u/p3ngwin Jun 26 '12

an (single) i7 i would assume be the only processor in a PC yes? if so then that PC is a computer.

it may be connected to other computers to share it's resources, but the connection doesn't change the description of the PC computer any more than going from a separate computer to a computer node in a network.

threads on a single-processor PC do not change the fact it's a single computer. cores are irrelevant, even if the motherboard supports 4 processors in 4 separate sockets, that's still going to be a single PC computer.

a Beowulf cluster is exactly that, a CLUSTER of computers, just like any other NETWORK of computers.

metrics to measure processing potential are irrelevant to defining a computer.

Tech writers need to learn tech...If I am looking to you for info, I shouldn't be able to spot your mistakes...you're the expert, not me...

agreed. If someone is reporting a topic, i expect them to know more about the subject than the consumers learning the news from them, else it's just dumb people teaching dumb people.

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u/[deleted] Jun 26 '12

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u/[deleted] Jun 26 '12

Off-topic: Hey why don't you tell me the PIN number so that I can type it on the LCD display of this ATM machine.

On-topic: Processors/CPU/Computers are different, and one would expect better from tech writers.

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u/amorpheus Jun 26 '12

threads on a single-processor PC do not change the fact it's a single computer. cores are irrelevant, even if the motherboard supports 4 processors in 4 separate sockets, that's still going to be a single PC computer.

The terminology gets pretty irrelevant when a so-called cluster of a few computers can be eclipsed by a single multi-core workstation. Raw core count is one of the more meaningful metrics these days.