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Fun fact:

"Since the only computer language Richard [Feynman] was really familiar with was Basic, he made up a parallel version of Basic in which he wrote the program and then simulated it by hand to estimate how fast it would run on the Connection Machine."

http://longnow.org/essays/richard-feynman-connection-machine...



That's a really cool blog post. Makes me wonder about a lot of stuff:

What were the projects and discoveries for which the connection machines were clearly essential?

Are there connection machines that are still in operation?

What happened to the old ones?

Does Danny Hillis now keep a cluster of GPUs running somewhere instead of his old hardware?

Would connection machines be more useful now than in the past?

Is it the right time to boot up thinking Machines 2.0 ?


Parrella boards and cray xmt both are probably the closest you get to connection machines today.




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