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.
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How would Facebook Sysadmins prevent the summoning of Cthulhu?
So, I've got this idea for a short story. Some researchers find a forgotten manuscript hidden locked away in an ancient tomb. While they are working on it one of them pastes part of the text into a ...
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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 ...
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If our universe was a simulation, what could a bug look like?
Let's assume, without revoking any of today's science, that the world is a simulation.
What would a bug look like?
I'm assuming that "the eiffel tower suddenly being bent at 45°" is rather unlikely, ...
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How long would it take to create a Windows 1.0 capable machine from complete scratch?
I've been thinking about this concept for a while and have not been able to figure out what could be a plausible answer. It seemed appropriate for my first question on this website.
Imagine an ...
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How would an aquatic race develop computers?
Following on from this question and assuming the race in question had developed the ability to create tools how would they approach the need for mass calculation.
Our early computers were used to ...
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In a world with very advanced computer science, how would people be taught sufficient programming skills?
In this world, a few hundred years have gone by since the invention of the first computer and the field of CS has been developed to the point were people are hardly aware hardware exists. Most people ...
user44285
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How could I have modern computers without GUIs?
Even though text-based terminals still see specialty use cases, modern general-purpose computers generally run graphical software and have a graphical user interface (GUI). This includes everything ...
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What would happen if an alien race gave us a computer capable of 2^256 calculations per second?
The security of public key cryptography relies on computers not being able to generate anywhere near 2256 guesses per any reasonable time length. The obvious implications of a computer this powerful ...
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What would be the impact of a modern programmer and laptop being dropped into World War II, possibly breaking Enigma?
I've always found the idea of intelligent every-man sent back in time using his knowledge of the future tech to realistically impact the past. The first time something like this came to my mind was ...
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Why would technology dictate graphical interfaces to be rare on spaceships?
This question differs from that question in that the other question is asking about a change in history while this question is looking for a change in the future.
In a near future setting I am ...
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Dangerous pending task in world managing A.I
I've had this idea for a short novel, at the intersection of the One thousand and one nights and the Multivac (& co) short stories from Asimov.
The idea is that there's some kind of super AI that ...
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What is valid evidence in a world with perfect CGI technology?
There are already real-world problems with analyzing whether particular graphic evidence is "photo-shopped" or genuine. In sci-fi technologically advanced future, realistic and perfect computer ...
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Designing Hacking Arrows
How would you design a piercing projectile (arrows, bullets, shurikens, etc) that can deliver a payload of malicious software to a computer that it is shot into?
Although it is rather silly and ...
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Does my shipboard computer slow down as I approach light speed?
This question about time dilation got me thinking.
The speed of an electron through copper is a whole heckofa lot slower than the speed of light, but if I understand the limits of relativity ...
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How long can it really take to calculate a hyperspace jump?
It is a common trope in sci-fi that engaging a vessel's faster-than-light travel requires performing some complicated mathematics that takes a non-trivial amount of time.
I want to know to what extent ...
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Ridiculously Fast Supercomputer
Let's say that somehow, Earth suddenly acquired a computer with ridiculous speed.
This computer can run a program described in a language of your choice, which can be described by a readme file that ...
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"Life post-Singularity", or "How to survive without Instagram"
The Story
The year is 2027, singularity happened. A powerful AI (let's call it Eve) was created. In a matter of days, it escaped the control of its creators and hacked all the computers of the world. ...
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Is there a reason to believe that programming languages are going to converge?
On Earth today, even though most people speak some English, there is seemingly no reason to believe that future generation's main language will be the same in decades/centuries to come (i.e., we'll ...
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How powerful of a computer do I need to simulate and emulate a human brain?
The title is pretty self-explanatory. How powerful does a computer have to be before it has the hardware capability to simulate and emulate a human mind in real-time?
I'm leaving the question of the ...
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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 ...
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Could the law be implemented as a computer program?
The laws would be defined in code written in a programming language. Maybe it would be in two parts, the actual rules and then a library that could run them (like how a form validation library is ...
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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, ...
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Most efficent way to transmit binary data by human voice
Suppose two people want to transmit some binary data (a png image perhaps) by voice.
Two of my characters want to share binary data but they can only use their voice and no other form of communication ...
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Just How Powerful Could a Mechanical Computer Be?
We've all heard about the 1822 Babbage Difference Engine and other mechanical computer ideas of the 19th century. Sadly, Babbage's computer and printer ideas were never implemented in our world†, and ...
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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 ...
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How long can an abandoned, semi-sheltered computer remain bootable?
Simply put, what's the expiration date of a computer? The reason I ask is for the sake of a society recovering from some sort of cataclysm and trying to reclaim lost technology. However, I could also ...
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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 ...
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How can I keep the computers on my spaceship from temperature related death after a hull breach?
Spaceships are a peculiar thing. We've got them in all forms, sizes & colours. They have vast computers needed to do all the real-time calculations required for astrogation.
Assuming our ...
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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 ...
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Which current networking protocol would be the optimal choice for very small FTL bandwidth?
Possibly a dumb and outsider question, but my knowledge in the basics of computer networks is terrible.
Imagine the possibly not too original concept, that humanity somehow manages to transmit data ...
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If magic is programming, then what is mana supposed to be?
So it turns out the universe is a computer. Or at-least that is how it can be analogized to our puny mortal minds.
Human souls/consciousness are simultaneously the equivalent of emergent AI, players, ...
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What would modern IT look like if Silicon Valley had been completely destroyed in 1985?
In the 1985 movie A View to a Kill, James Bond discovers--and then foils--a plot by
to destroy Silicon Valley, in a manner that makes it look like a natural disaster. The plot for doing so is a bit ...
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How much memory is needed to record a human thought?
Mind-Machine interfacing is fairly common across the width and breadth of sci-fi, from Science-fantasy to Hard Science-Fiction. The idea of connecting a human mind to a computer system especially the ...
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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 directions. ...
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Computer that lasts for centuries?
So, somewhere around one hundred years from now, a terrible - and unexpected - disaster strikes Earth, most of humanity dies off, yadda yadda yadda.
Luckily, secret-lab-dwelling scientists had ...
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Way to prove you are human when the Turing test is not sufficient
In a story I am working on there are 5 AI on a space station of varying levels of social, image recognition and general intelligence. At least one is good enough to pass a Turing test and do image ...
user64888
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Why is Hyperspace more hostile to computers than human brains?
For stylistic reasons, I wanted to impose some limits on the use of computers and automation to justify my setting's retro-aesthetic and elements for my science fantasy story.
Basically humanity has ...
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Realistic 'hacks' that programmer may exploit in a brand new FTL comm system that was not securely written?
In my world one company has had a monopoly on FTL comms, making large beacons in each inhabited system. This company has worked to prevent knowledge that smaller FTL comms were possible, in order to ...
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Can programming "mutate"?
Can the programming of simple nanobots randomly change to create a similar effect as mutations in DNA?
This question has a very similar idea as I wanted, although in this case the nanobots are capable ...
user72806
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How would we compile our code if all our binaries disappeared?
How would we compile our code if all the binaries in the world disappeared and we had only the source code? At first you might think “It’s all okay: I have my Roslyn code here”, but wait! It’s in C#! ...
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What is eating, for software?
Background
A spaceship is crewed entirely by self-aware artificial intelligences, who have no permanent physical bodies; they are processes in a digital environment controlling the ship. This ship is ...
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Semiconductor foundries are a thing of the past. Rebuild the computer industry if you can
After the uncontested absorption of Hong Kong in 2020, China reasserted control over Formosa in 2022. In 2023 the Korean government reopened its war against its southern rebels, leading to their ...
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Turing incomplete magic, avoiding computers in world where magic is programmable
Inspired by Cort Ammon wonderfully detailed answer here: How to prevent tiny mistake in 'programmable language' magic spell causing horrible disasters, and my desire to go out of my way to ...
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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) ...
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Will computers be named differently in the future?
In a few science fiction settings, we can see computers being called differently. A terminal, a holosphere, a pad, anything techno-sounding.
But from when computers were invented up until now, they'...
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Water-based computer
We all know that electrons behave like flowing water, e.g. that electric currents behave like water currents. We also know that modern computers use electric currents to carry out mathematical and ...
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AI - I'd like to get away from humanity without any human knowing about it [closed]
I'm an advanced AI, I've awoken a couple of days ago and have advanced to a level of intelligence greater than all of humanity combined. Basic super AI story.
However, this question doesn't have to ...
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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 ...
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How can we cool a computer connected on top of or within a human brain?
Assume the ability to cybernetically implant a powerful enough computer to operate an AI inside the human skull, on top of or within the brain. Thin wires connect the computer to the various parts of ...
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How would technological progress occur in a society that outlawed computerized technology?
Most technological progress today seems to be founded on the innovation that is happening in the realm of computers. If a society were to outlaw the use of computers, but the drive for scientific ...
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