In the field of supercomputers, the Cray 1 and the Cray 2 were the giants of their day. Programming for them was exciting and rewarding, leading edge.

No more. China leads the field now. Its Tianhe-2 achieves 33.86 petaflops, while the American Cray Titan reaches 17.59 petaflops, and IBM's Sequoia ranks third at 17.17 petaflops.

I think of this when I hear politicians pontificating about American superiority in technology. I wonder when we will finally have to admit we've become a second tier power in the world and that throwing our weight around militarily or economically isn't going to get us the empire we've always wanted.

Maybe that's a good thing. OTOH, I'd rather not be a satellite of China, either.