PCs become supercomputers, law remains static

Alexander 'Sasha' Chislenko (sasha1@netcom.com)
Tue, 23 Feb 1999 11:03:38 -0500

Interestingly enough, the next release of Pentiums III, 800MHZ, will put them into a supercomputer category and so will trigger corresponding export restrictions. - See story at

http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19990222S0011

What will the government do now?
The answer should be simple: whatever it was planning to do when this happens. The export restrictions aren't new, neither is Moore's "Law", so this event was predictable, _long_ time ago. But no, the law is static, and now there are again expensive lobbying efforts for raising the definition of the supercomputer (once?), etc.

Why is that that the regulatory bodies are so delusional they assume we live in a static world - where their very purpose should be formulated now as assurance of smooth growth of the society they should understand well enough to govern?

Are they too stupid to extrapolate apparent trends, or there is something else in the system that makes it ignore them?



Alexander Chislenko <http://www.lucifer.com/~sasha/home.html>