Questions tagged [computers]
For questions regarding a device that can be programmed to carry out a set of certain set of tasks without external intervention.
196
questions
14
votes
14answers
4k views
How much tech advancement could be made out of modern processor appearing in 1980s?
I rewatched terminator 2 and got intrigued by a particular quote:
[microchip]
scary stuff, radically advanced. I mean it was smashed, it didn't work, but it
gave us ideas, took us in new ...
4
votes
3answers
194 views
The cure for all bacteria-caused diseases
Which minimal order of magnitude is required to simulate single cells and microorganisms in cyberspace?
In an utopian future, people will be possibly able to rapidly design new cures, be their ...
-6
votes
3answers
111 views
What could an algorithm for fast prime factorization look like? [closed]
For hundreds of years mathematicians have been looking for a method to quickly factorize a natural number.
For example:
3894757 = 877*4441
Today there's no way ...
-4
votes
4answers
120 views
what are some ways to store information mechanically?
what are some ways to store largish amounts of information mechanically? What would a mechanical computer use for memory storage if it was entirely mechanical?
edit: guys why is this downvoted? I don'...
45
votes
26answers
12k views
What is a recently obsolete computer storage device that would be significantly difficult to extract data from?
For my story I need a data storage device that will be reasonably familiar to adult readers. My character will have obtained this device and know that vital information is stored on it, but not ...
5
votes
4answers
131 views
What's the deciding factor in what my Foresight can predict?
When you have foresight, it's guaranteed that confusion will be your epitaph (thumbs up to the one person who gets the joke). Basically, it only grants you advantage on actions, so you still can't ...
0
votes
2answers
121 views
How could this three-second foresight work?
"However, King Crimson has already seen through it. Your movements in the future. The trajectory of your movements in the future."
"No matter who you may be, everyone goes through their ups and ...
2
votes
2answers
162 views
A mathmatician just discovered a way to solve any NP-Complete problen in N*log(n) time. How does the world change? [closed]
The title sort of says it all. We discovered through some ingenious use of obscure mathematics a way to solve any NP-Complete problem with an algorithm that completes in a Big-O of n*log(n) time.
...
10
votes
6answers
390 views
How would a civilization without reading and writing develop general-purpose computers?
Related:
Technological development without writing (related to general technological development without writing)
How would a society without linear alphabetic writing have devised human-readable ...
asked Nov 4 at 15:46
Columbia says Reinstate Monica
1,6911 gold badge9 silver badges24 bronze badges
4
votes
3answers
280 views
Your computer made you rich by perfectly predicting 50/50 and 1:3 decisions, but only 50µs in the future. What did you control? [closed]
You have a Time Displacement Teleportation Device (or two). Your computer is making split-second decisions, & it knows an outcome or event 50µs from now and can correct decisions. You now control ...
7
votes
5answers
663 views
What Technology is Needed to Virtually Simulate…Everything?
This is not my question.
In my story, I have a machine that you can connect to using electrodes. It allows one to enter a small virtual reality room where everything from gravity and electromagnetism,...
35
votes
12answers
8k views
Is It Possible to Make a Computer Virus That Acts as an Anti-virus?
After receiving answers to this question, I now know that viruses cannot be written in machine code in such a way that they can universally infect all kinds of systems. Every machine has a unique set ...
4
votes
8answers
2k views
Is It Possible for a Universally-Executable Virus to be Written in Binary?
In my world, there was a man that wrote a virus in binary code - which in turn infects every computer-based system in the world, as long as it is connected to the internet.
Is this even possible? ...
1
vote
2answers
145 views
How to connect Brain to computer? [closed]
I'm not talking about mind-uploading, but rather about connecting your consciousness to the computer to be able to live inside it.I'm talking rather about advanced bci, so you have all the experiences,...
2
votes
1answer
189 views
How to create Matrix-like simulation?
Movies like The Matrix and video games like The
Evil Within have popularized the idea of a simulated reality.
I'm talking about a human connected to a computer and able to experience similar things ...
-1
votes
1answer
106 views
Could AI create a more complex language and (if so) how? [closed]
Animals use less intelligent language, so one may assume that human language is unintelligent to extraterrestrial life. We use technology to perceive senses that we do not naturally have (e.g., seeing ...
18
votes
9answers
5k views
Non-visual Computers - thoughts?
TL;DR
Let's say that computers were invented at a school for the blind in mid-1800s. How would today's technology, based on these non-screen-based computers, be different?
ETA: To clarify and ...
5
votes
3answers
433 views
What is realistic quality of computer blueprints quickly backed up before apocalypse and their impact on future design?
Incoming generic apocalypse, a bunch of people with low budget tries to quickly download publicly accessible blueprints, so in a few decades or centuries someone would be able produce again computer ...
10
votes
9answers
3k views
How to trick a fairly simplistic kill-counter? [closed]
In my setting, soldiers carry with them kill-counters; devices that measure the lifesigns of everything in the vicinity and then count one kill if the lifesigns of a given humanoid suddenly ceases to ...
3
votes
1answer
243 views
What would happen if we sent a modern computer into the past? [closed]
According to Moore's law, the number of transistors in an integrated circuit doubles about every two years. Therefore, a modern household computer has the computational capabilities of a supercomputer ...
3
votes
2answers
141 views
Humans meet a distant alien species. How do they coordinate? - Computers [closed]
Part of a series addressing the challenges of a mutual first contact. Previous question here
Humans meet some distant alien species. They are mutual first contacts. After learning the languages of ...
1
vote
0answers
234 views
What is the limit of Graphene CPUs? [closed]
In the world I'm building, set roughly 350 years in the future, the humans have colonized the Solar System and other systems beyond using a hyperlane network discovered at the edges of the Solar ...
2
votes
1answer
119 views
Imaginary computer processor, made of flip-flop atoms
It would be cool if scientists can invent an electrical material which is made of an XY square grid of atoms... straight like salt atoms except made of a weird polymer. the stuff functions as XY ...
6
votes
2answers
303 views
I can break AES. Now what? [closed]
The story
The protagonist (whom will be referred with a first person narrative in this question) had a friend, Eve, who was a math genius. Eve was dying of cancer. She kept her mind occupied in her ...
1
vote
2answers
109 views
When were computer components 0,2 micrometer in size? [closed]
When setting a story in the future I always try to limit the technology available. It's less enjoyable and harder to identify yourself with droney the drone than with John and Jane Doe.
Currently I ...
9
votes
1answer
166 views
Minimum tech level to invent core memory
Magnetic core memory was a critical innovation in the development of computers. Per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic-core_memory it was the most advanced form of memory from about the mid-...
41
votes
12answers
16k views
What steps are necessary to read a Modern SSD in Medieval Europe?
So the main team of characters is traveling back in time from "modern day" to medieval Europe, arriving around the 1300s.
Assumptions: They Know they are going, they have space and time to prepare, ...
5
votes
3answers
170 views
How would a resistance group stop or disrupt software development
I have an idea of a story that takes place in a near future dystopia, where the government is planning to deploy a new dangerous surveillance software. This surveillance tech is of course contracted ...
7
votes
2answers
171 views
How small can a perpetual energy source be to run a far-future civilization indefinitely?
You are the leader of a far-future civilization - human or otherwise - that has endured for trillions of years doing whatever far-future civilizations do. You've surrounded stars with Matrioshka ...
-4
votes
5answers
272 views
In a world without software how would Hacking work?
A definition of computer hacking.
Computer hacking refers to the practice of modifying or altering computer software and hardware to accomplish a goal that is considered to be outside of the ...
1
vote
3answers
137 views
Why would jupiter brain be completely devoid of ocean? [closed]
Jupiter brain is known as a colossal computer the size of a planet, if heat dissipation is a concern when constructing it how come most models lack an ocean of distilled reverse osmosis UV treated ...
1
vote
0answers
93 views
How would a world where electronics are organically based differ from ours? [closed]
I'm building a Retrofuture space fantasy setting.
Some relevant information on that can be found here...
One of the core aspects to me of the retro sci-fi aesthetic is its hardware focused nature. I ...
4
votes
3answers
291 views
Could a technologically advanced civilization be possible without digital computers?
I've noted an interesting trend in Netflix, specially on Sci-Fi and hero series.
The worlds often have these aesthetic characteristics:
Computers are rare, very big or non existing
Phones, but ...
0
votes
1answer
84 views
Would system virtualization technology play a role in future space colonization and can we observe its roots today? [closed]
If I asked the same question for operating systems, I'd say I am quite confident that some descendants of Linux could be there for a very long time.
Today, while Linux is used in embedded IoT devices,...
7
votes
1answer
253 views
What is a realistic computational limit for a handtool-made mechanic computer?
This question here brought up interesting points on what kind of distribution we could expect for the increase in computational power of mechanical computers in a world relying solely on such non-...
22
votes
8answers
6k views
Would Moore's Law apply to mechanical computers?
We know through the works of Babbage, Lovelace, et al. that mechanical computers (computers operating through gears, cogs, etc., and powered by steam or some other arbitrary non-electric power source) ...
asked Jan 20 at 13:08
Columbia says Reinstate Monica
1,6911 gold badge9 silver badges24 bronze badges
6
votes
3answers
456 views
How must computers/telecommunication deviate from reality for a retrofuturistic setting?
.
I love the aesthetics of retrofuturistic settingsand I aim to build my own.
A mixture of a fantastical, Thundercats(2011),Outlaw Star x Star*Drive.
How yesterday saw tomorrow is quite fascinating ...
4
votes
4answers
166 views
Can any kind of public-key encryption hold up against a logically omniscient oracle?
"Logical omniscience" can be defined for these purposes as a form of hypercomputation in which all Turing-computable functions can be computed in constant time. Practically speaking, this means that ...
12
votes
7answers
4k views
What size EMP device would be necessary to wipe all data in a Google-sized server farm, without major physical damage?
I'm not sure if it's even feasible, but I have a server farm in my book, of a size that puts it on par with Google's. I want to wipe out all the data stored on the hard drives, without destroying the ...
34
votes
24answers
12k views
What is the most reasonable way for non-binary computers to have become standard?
Let us assume planet Earth, with a history similar to ours. Except, the result of the computer revolution is not a computer system based on binary (i.e. 0 and 1), but some other system. This system ...
0
votes
1answer
176 views
how could a computer in the first dimension perform multiplication? [closed]
If it is possible for a computer in the first dimension to perform a second dimensional operation in the same way a computer in the second dimension can perform a third dimensional operation, then ...
34
votes
7answers
9k views
How many years could notebook computers and phones be stored in a closed bunker/vault and still operational when found?
The idea is for some people in a post-apocalyptic future to find these bunkers/vaults and be able to turn on the computers and charge the cellphones. How many years could the equipment last if they ...
118
votes
15answers
10k views
Why would characters spend time answering imaginary questions to fictional hypotheticals?
I'm developing a simulation where characters, "users", are interacting over a virtual communication network. "Users" have the option to engage in any activity they want at any time, as long as the ...
7
votes
8answers
3k views
Would room phones work in a hotel during a blackout? [closed]
I'm writing a story about people being stuck in a large hotel. One character wants to call a loved one, but I'm trying to think of a reason that they can't. My initial thought was that the front desk ...
0
votes
2answers
132 views
Any new technologies that are ready to be discovered? [closed]
As an electronics engineer, (sort of), I understand how transistor gates (AND, OR, NAND, NOR, XOR, etc.) are combined to create all of our digital devices. The first computers were created in the mid-...
18
votes
17answers
1k views
What is the Maximum Possible Destruction from One Keystroke? [closed]
You have unlimited access to all of the world's information. Source code, books, electronic information, monuments with text on them, tattoos with text, you name it. If it has information encoded has ...
4
votes
10answers
3k views
Write once perpetual storage, is such a thing possible?
Is it possible, with modern, or easily foreseeable technology, to build a compact digital data storage device that cannot be erased without removing the data store? The storage in question to be used ...
6
votes
6answers
683 views
How in a post nuclear apocalypse setting could a group of survivors set up a “Internet” or “Internet-like” service?
In a world set many years (At least a generation or two) after a near extinction level nuclear event, how could a recovering population set up a internet or internet like service?
Key points I'm ...
-3
votes
3answers
212 views
If an Artificial Intelligence system with the same number of neurons and synapses as the human brain was built, would it be smarter than a human? [closed]
Brain waves work at most 50 operations per second, and the fastest synapse fire rate is not very different from this speed(up to 100 times per second). However, today computers operate in billions of ...
1
vote
6answers
273 views
How would a society ban artificial intelligence without banning computers? [closed]
One way to avoid a 'robot apocalypse' would be to just outright ban artificial intelligence. But what if they wanted to keep some computers around, just for practical reasons? What kind of limitations ...
