How long is a MegaFlop?

Investigates the nature of measurement, philosophically and historically. Some qualities of `good´ and `bad´ metrics are discussed. These are then used to take a critical look at the use and abuse of measurement in the empirical science of the development and promotion of parallel digital processing. The familiar metrics of speed-up, scaled speed-up, MegaFlops, and memory size are critiqued within this philosophical framework. Finally a small set of `good´ metrics for parallel processing is proposed and justified