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What If Computers Were Made Of Gears?

Phones, computers, tablets, and all other forms of electronic wizardry
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ThatOneFox
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What If Computers Were Made Of Gears?

Post by ThatOneFox »

Just imagine, instead of taking the electrical route, that computers ended up being made out of clockwork. It's perfectly possible, and has been done to a small extent many times by ancient civilization.
A prime example of a clockwork computer is "The Writer"
[media=youtube]FUa7oBsSDk8[/media]
So. If computers were made mainly from gears, would there be any video games? Would there be any mobile devices?

Discuss.
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ElectroYoshi
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Post by ElectroYoshi »

How would you even make a computer out of gears?
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Post by ThatOneFox »

I don't know, but the greeks made an analogue computer in 100bc out of gears.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism
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ElectroYoshi
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Post by ElectroYoshi »

Well, given the kinds of computers we have now (PCs, macs, tablets, consoles, etc.) and the things people do on them, I don't think things like video games and mobile devices could even exist. Gears alone can't do everything that makes those things possible.
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Phantomboy
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Post by Phantomboy »

Oh my gosh, I love the very concept of this! I believe the movie Hugo pulled clear inspiration from this.

Massive memory systems can be stored in very simple forms, such as 1's and 0's or simply gears. That could have lead way into major complex computing machines, honestly I would love to view that alternative world were that is the outcome :)
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Sebastian Lawe
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Post by Sebastian Lawe »

Computers could definitely be gear powered, heck look at this video of a scientific calculator in Minecraft. Its pistons and red stone.
[media=youtube]wgJfVRhotlQ[/media]

You would need a bunch of interlocks and gear relocaters in order to process or store different values. If you press X Y or Z the pathway of gears that are spun would be changed, much like a computer changes its pathways of electrical current through switches.
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Post by ThatOneFox »

Sebastian Lawe wrote:Computers could definitely be gear powered, heck look at this video of a scientific calculator in Minecraft. Its pistons and red stone.

You would need a bunch of interlocks and gear relocaters in order to process or store different values. If you press X Y or Z the pathway of gears that are spun would be changed, much like a computer changes its pathways of electrical current through switches.
Since we've been talking about similar stuff on skype, there is actually a fashion style designed around this called "Steampunk"
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Post by Phantomboy »

At one point I actually knew someone who was getting into that style, it was quite cool. From what I've gathered from her and what I have generally heard, it is essentially if the Industrialization influenced a Victorian era civilization. It is pretty interesting!
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Post by ThatOneFox »

Phantomboy wrote:At one point I actually knew someone who was getting into that style, it was quite cool. From what I've gathered from her and what I have generally heard, it is essentially if the Industrialization influenced a Victorian era civilization. It is pretty interesting!
I tried Steampunk. Cyberpunk is so much cooler.
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Post by Phantomboy »

I don't really put any style over another, but I will admit both are quite interesting and unique!
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Post by Newah »

Sebastian Lawe wrote:Computers could definitely be gear powered, heck look at this video of a scientific calculator in Minecraft. Its pistons and red stone.

You would need a bunch of interlocks and gear relocaters in order to process or store different values. If you press X Y or Z the pathway of gears that are spun would be changed, much like a computer changes its pathways of electrical current through switches.

Yeah it would work but it would be heavily unwieldy, though it certainly would be cool.
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Post by ElectroYoshi »

Just imagine if laptops were made of gears. That'd be a lot of fun to lug around. #BlatantSarcasm
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Post by ThatOneFox »

ElectroYoshi wrote:Just imagine if laptops were made of gears. That'd be a lot of fun to lug around. #BlatantSarcasm
Not if the gears were small and light enough.
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Post by ElectroYoshi »

Except small gears aren't as practical as bigger ones.
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Post by Sebastian Lawe »

ElectroYoshi wrote:Except small gears aren't as practical as bigger ones.
Why not? That's like saying micro circuits are less effective then their larger versions.
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ElectroYoshi
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Post by ElectroYoshi »

Sebastian Lawe wrote:Why not? That's like saying micro circuits are less effective then their larger versions.
True, smaller gears are just as effective than bigger ones in the sense that they both get the job done. However, smaller gears are much easier to break.
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Post by Sebastian Lawe »

ElectroYoshi wrote:True, smaller gears are just as effective than bigger ones in the sense that they both get the job done. However, smaller gears are much easier to break.
When it comes to physics, the smaller the object, the harder it is to break, especially if the object is very dense. You would have an easier time smashing a big gear to bits.
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Post by ElectroYoshi »

Here's the thing though: Laptops are supposed to be easy to carry around. Gears in general wouldn't be that practical to use on a laptop because it's kind of a no win situation. You would need to use gears that are very small and thin compared to the ones you see in, say, factories. But thinner gears tend to break more easily because they're more flimsy (That's what I meant by "smaller" gears not being as practical), and thicker gears wouldn't be good things to make a laptop out of because that would make said laptop just plain heavy.
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Post by Phantomboy »

Also, scaling down clockwork doesn't really change much about its systematic properties. When you start getting into systems that relay on weight, durability, viscosity, resistance and pliability it absolutely does, however gears are really just transferring motion via contact. In fact, if I recall correctly work has actually been done to create nano-clockwork using cogs of arranged molecules.

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Post by ThatOneFox »

If you think about it, if clockwork computers had been created INSTEAD of electronic computers, at roughly the same time, then you never know. They COULD have the same functionability.
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