From What's Next: Top Trends, February 22:
So here’s a new roadmap showing how HPC (High Performance Computing or
Super Computing as it’s sometimes known) is currently being used and
what HPC might be capable of in the distant future (unspecified).
There are five key categories of applications: Modelling &
Simulation, Healthcare & Medicine, Security, Fintech and Materials,
Manufacturing & Engineering. We had Data in there too in the
beginning, but removed it because most applications seemed to be subsets
of the other categories.
In an ideal graphic the various entries would connect. For example,
design of nano-water filters is materials & engineering, but it’s
also modelling and it’s healthcare.
There are a couple of jokes on the map to keep people on their toes
(or maybe not!) and the point of the map is dead simple. It’s intended
to stimulate discussion about what HPC is capable of and where HPC might
be heading (my personal favourite entry is aesthetics prediction btw).
The entries are all largely tech-push of course. In the real world
you’d need to overlay things like energy, security, privacy, regulation
and human psychology to get a clearer picture of what’s next, but it’s a
start. As far as we can tell it’s also far better than anything
currently out there in terms of info-graphics about HPC.
The main audience is obviously the global HPC community, but
hopefully it will appeal to anyone interested in computing, Big Data,
predictive analytics and perhaps machine learning and AI. (BTW, why HPC
isn’t called Big Computing is beyond some of us!)
Below are a few pictures showing the development of the map, which
originally started off in the shape of a question mark with the really
big question being either where is this all going or what is this all
really for?
The really interesting category to our collective mind at Tech
Foresight is simulation and modelling. It brings up ethical and even
philosophical questions about how simulations impact reality. For
example, if you have data that suggests something will happen, what
level of certainty would you require to then act and where is free will
and human agency in all this?...MUCH MORE
