Letter to Fallows re: Loongoon MIPS

I predict that the PRC's MIPS based Loongson and Godson chip-sets contains a feature where in a special factory test mode the contents of completely obscure and un-architected registers are over-written by encrypted firmware (e.g. in on-chip flash) that becomes the hardware root of a vast secure and encrypted back door architecture that neuters whatever exists of Anonymous or WikiLeaks in ten years. That is why I would invest in a native, dialectic materialist Instruction Set Architecture with The Party's back door in the foundation at bedrock. Only they could be capable of bringing down Skynet. Or become Wintermute. The choice would be theirs to make.

I just made this myth up as an exercise but I have done much the same thing as a chip designer.

sbop
Kirk "most registers are not specified by the architecture" Holden

 

Just hold down the reset pin long enough and watch the processor spill it's bits into a tester. While the test registers empty one bit at a time from the tail, I could feed any order of bits into the head. I could blow things up, repair things and just make donuts in the parking lot for the thrill of it. Chip designers only divulge these secrets

The really interesting fact for me as China announces the long term strategy to develop a completely proprietary hardware and software solution from super scalar (von Neumann CPU + scalar GPU) down to "world phones" that run the smallest telecom call manager with a single instruction set architecture (ISA). The project for innoculation from WinTel and ARM solutions will, IMHO provide a Chinese umbrella that anyone and everyone could in principal join.

The important thing is that both the hardware and software base is open source. It may be that this is a special PRC brand of open source where the encryption and security back doors exist from top to bottom. Applications down to device drivers will be, to pick one obvious example of STUXNET, free from foreign breaches and open to the PRC sniffers. Note also that Chinese Black Ice (cit. Wm Gibson) can't actually crack open the originating Chinese Dialectic Materialistic ISA. These tools in the hand of the most powerful nation by the time the products rolls out can out at or near the scale of current world wide installed base of Linux server farms and Android smart phones and tablets.

A historical footnote here - Motorola developed a still born "low energy architecture" named M*Core which was such a failure in the market that the architecture was offered for $0 fee. The only taker was a research institute in China. The computer scientist have been busy for a long time on this project. The project will make an impact whether it spurs competition in the West (very, very likely) or subverts the established hegemony of Intel and ARM in pervasive, embedded hardware.

Also notice that many, many features of ISA's establishes interfaces between co-processors like GPU. These types of interfaces have only just been invented by AMD and Intel where the GPU comes onboard and is stitched into the low level hardware fabric. Then it all gets presented in minute detail at ISSCC (for the circuits) and The Journal of Computer Science (or whatever passes for that conference in San Jose that everyone publishes in now).

The west is doing the R&D heavy lifting and then publishing for the sole purpose of bragging rights to innovative breakthoughs.

This is exactly how the PC killed DEC in the 1980's. It may be time for another revolution.