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8bitMicroGuy wrote:Hey I was thinking about that too.
When studying pneumatics and hydraulics in class, I tried to make a pneumatic memory. I did to one extent, but only in the simulator program which was limited and had problems so I couldn't really be precise enough. I think that a pneumatic computer is very makeable in reality. A microfluidic hydraulic computer would be more efficient due to the Coanda effect and higher precision. However, I don't know what would the maximum frequency be. Megahertz-s would cause a lot of hydraulic noise and even hydraulic impact which would cause vibrations and everything exploding. If not that, then corrosion caused by exploding hydraulic bubbles caused by the densification due to hydraulic impact. If the pipes and the pressures would be very little and nicely calculated, it might be somewhat safer.

Hmm... Whatever you build has to be able to withstand many billions of operations to be very useful, is the key problem I see. In the world of physical machinery you'll be hard-pressed to find ANYTHING guaranteed to function that reliably. With pneumatics I'm immediately thinking about friction inside piping wearing out elbows and so forth, especially with the level of pressure you'd need to get a fast enough response. Hydraulic maybe... It's an interesting thought at least.

Like, the more I think about it the more I'm forced to conclude that the way we do computing now is probably the right track to be on. But I still see us as woefully unprepared for that kind of disaster scenario I mentioned. We got here through such a slow gradual process and a lot of those intermediate stages of technology no longer exist, so would we even be ABLE to reconstruct our modern world from scratch? You'd think we'd have a plan for that. Say a few computer-parts factories that get a government disaster-readiness grant to keep some rooms stocked full of all the raw materials, parts, antiquated equipment and information you'd need to get your facilities back up and running, to go from a total blackout to rebuilding things. The way I see it today, I would think most of the world's population would die off before anyone figured out how to get a computer running again. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the end of civilization as we know it.

I mean, hell, we have a hard enough time just getting our electrical grid back up and running when there's a major trip or something, an event that leaves all the infrastructure still there and functional. Our modern lifestyle really is hanging by a slender thread.

A pneumatic CNC machine for making integrated circuits might be nice. Everything running on a pneumatic computer that runs on 100Hz. I think the responsiveness of Coanda effect is maximum 100Hz.

Khaz wrote:But I still see us as woefully unprepared for that kind of disaster scenario I mentioned.

Eh, this was discussed elsewhere before, it wouldn't take very long to get back on track, the problem is that the grid would be off for long enough for people to go crazy and destroy everything (i.e. the biggest problem would be humans, not the electric stuff). And if it was strong enough to permanently destroy all equipment, it'd also be strong enough to damage all living beings in its path as well (so we'd have other things to worry about first).

You don't need very much infrastructure to build vacuum tubes. A glassblower, a vacuum pump, some rudimentary metal refining. You can use crappier metal, it'll just have lower/less linear gain, take more power, and burn out sooner. Similar with a worse vacuum (although that hits an impractical limit sooner). I'm pretty certain we could rebuild to, eh, 1950s era technology using what a single person could fit in their head. Or at most a shelf or two of books.

But yeah, what Sik said, people being short-sighted and destroying infrastructure is the biggest problem in such a situation.

Here's a computer made out of dominoes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpLU__bhu2w

Amusingly, the domino logic example there is actually very similar to how TTL BJT logic works. Dominoes falling ≈ current flowing.