Smarr discussed supercomputing, bandwidth, and the brain at Singularity University's summer session.

As far as our brains are concerned, our world is mostly visual. In his talk at Singularity University this summer, Larry Smarr discussed how the speed of computing, and the expansion of bandwidth can communicate images so well that we’re rapidly compressing the global community into a single point. Smarr is a physicist and computing science guru, and the director of the California Institute for Information Technology (Calit2). His SU talk on supercomputing, scientific computing, and the human brain is now available on YouTube. Check it out after the break.

Very graciously, Larry Smarr makes the slides from all his presentations available on his website. You can find the Singularity University slides here to help you follow along with the video. While I recommend watching all 46 minutes, here are some highlights if you don’t have time: (6:40) Smarr discusses the petaflop computer at Los Alamos. (14:15) The eye-brain system operates at 10 gigabits per second, and that bandwidth is now available to many on the newest fiber optic internet connections between universities. (20:00) Sharing reality through photorealism. (27:10) Optical portals in Australia. (29:18) Interplanetary conferencing with the Mars rover. (32:10) Globalization 3.0. (34:05) Questions from the audience and insight into the future of post-processing in the entertainment industry.

It’s great to have access to world-class thinkers and their presentations. With talks from Vint Cerf and Bob Metcalfe and now Larry Smarr available online, we can all get a taste of the summer session at Singularity University. Hopefully more videos will be forthcoming soon.

*Disclosure: Keith Kleiner (owner of Singularity Hub) is an associate founder of Singularity University.

[screen capture and video credit: Singularity University]