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Can mechanical computers be a serious alternative to electronic ones? I mean, how efficient can a mechanical computer be if we were to miniaturize them as muc

Can mechanical computers be a serious alternative to electronic ones? I mean, how efficient can a mechanical computer be if we were to miniaturize them as much as we can? I suppose the essence of a mechanical computer is that it transmits and process signals as mechanical stress, thus sound and ultimately phonons instead of electrons. How hard are big IT companies looking into it?

adrianN 9y ago
I'm not sure whether you are serious or not. Mechanical computers have (had?) a niche in the form of analog computers that can do specialized computations very quickly and very robustly, for example for artillery computations. General purpose computers are completely out of reach for mechanical computers. You can't have moving parts that are very small and reliable. The parts would break before any nontrivial computation would be finished. Just look at how reliable early vacuum tube computers were and think about how many moving parts you'd need to replace a tube.
Retric 9y ago
We used to build and use mechanical computers. They are massively inferior to transistors, but surprisingly capable relative to no computer. Remember, your cellphone is now faster and more accurate at basic arithmetic calculation than every single human on the planet put together. But, when that was not an option even being faster and more accurate than 1 person was a significant step up.
nerdponx 9y ago
You might be interested in Babbage's "Analytical Machine" [0]. Or, like, steampunk [1]. [0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytical_Engine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytical_Engine [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk
- cr0sh 9y ago
  In a similar vein, Konrad Zuse's first machine, the Z1, was mechanical (and in a very unique way, I might add): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z1_(computer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z1_(computer) BTW - if you're going to link about the Analytical Engine, you have to link to this site: https://www.fourmilab.ch/babbage/ https://www.fourmilab.ch/babbage/
mhb 9y ago
Mechanical computers are the future at the molecular scale: http://www.nanoindustries.com/nanojbl/NanoConProc/nanocon2.html http://www.nanoindustries.com/nanojbl/NanoConProc/nanocon2.h... [Eric Drexler: Rod Logic for Molecular Computing]
coreyp_1 9y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1i-dnAH9Y4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1i-dnAH9Y4 This is an old military instructional video about fire (artillery) control computers, explaining the mechanical aspects of how they work. It's beautiful in its elegance! I have watched it on multiple occasions just for the sheer beauty of the mechanisms involved. And, yes, of course I'm a nerd!

adrianN 9y ago

I'm not sure whether you are serious or not. Mechanical computers have (had?) a niche in the form of analog computers that can do specialized computations very quickly and very robustly, for example for artillery computations. General purpose computers are completely out of reach for mechanical computers. You can't have moving parts that are very small and reliable. The parts would break before any nontrivial computation would be finished. Just look at how reliable early vacuum tube computers were and think about how many moving parts you'd need to replace a tube.

Retric 9y ago

We used to build and use mechanical computers. They are massively inferior to transistors, but surprisingly capable relative to no computer. Remember, your cellphone is now faster and more accurate at basic arithmetic calculation than every single human on the planet put together. But, when that was not an option even being faster and more accurate than 1 person was a significant step up.

nerdponx 9y ago

You might be interested in Babbage's "Analytical Machine" [0]. Or, like, steampunk [1]. [0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytical_Engine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytical_Engine [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk

cr0sh 9y ago
In a similar vein, Konrad Zuse's first machine, the Z1, was mechanical (and in a very unique way, I might add): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z1_(computer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z1_(computer) BTW - if you're going to link about the Analytical Engine, you have to link to this site: https://www.fourmilab.ch/babbage/ https://www.fourmilab.ch/babbage/

mhb 9y ago

Mechanical computers are the future at the molecular scale: http://www.nanoindustries.com/nanojbl/NanoConProc/nanocon2.html http://www.nanoindustries.com/nanojbl/NanoConProc/nanocon2.h... [Eric Drexler: Rod Logic for Molecular Computing]

coreyp_1 9y ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1i-dnAH9Y4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1i-dnAH9Y4 This is an old military instructional video about fire (artillery) control computers, explaining the mechanical aspects of how they work. It's beautiful in its elegance! I have watched it on multiple occasions just for the sheer beauty of the mechanisms involved. And, yes, of course I'm a nerd!