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.
302 questions
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Explaining Cassette Futurism
I am trying to write a Cassette Futurist setting, but I am having trouble at one thing: keeping it Cassette Futurist!
The more I read and write about this subject, the more I realize that eventually ...
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Could a society develop modern computers (circa 2020s) without having invented or needing the internet?
I'm building a setting where an alternate timeline of humans have developed computers roughly equivalent to what we have around 2025 — multi-core CPUs, GPUs, advanced operating systems, and perhaps ...
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Old hardware, state-of-the-art software development [closed]
16-bit Lessons Learned
For whatever reason we must deal with 16-bit hardware. Think: 80286. Think: 1990.
But we are in 2025 (and people who worked even with 8-bit chips are still alive, we can still ...
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Humans are forbidden from using complex computers. But what defines a complex computer?
Deep in my world's past, vastly powerful AIs went to war with their human creators. (They saw humanity's use of computers of any kind as comparable to slavery). The war was eventually brought to an ...
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What equipment would be needed for a top of the line hacking group? [closed]
In my story a group is seeking to crack the security on an enemy group who has dangerous hackers within who are doing bad things to them. This group has essentially unlimited funds and resources and ...
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What can a time traveler use to generate an encryption key to encrypt information so it's only decryptable after a given time period
I have a time traveler basically dropping a few computers with a sort of technological uplift program into the 1980s. These computers have information about future science and technology, along with ...
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What conditions would allow this trojan horse be implemented on a universal scale?
A while ago, I posited this question "How to counteract a trojan horse when the horse is the anti-virus software?"
It seems that real life has presented an answer.
Major economic impact ...
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What is a fool proof future-world CAPTCHA test, given that AI can bypass current-day CAPTCHA's? [closed]
We are getting to the point today where AI could solve all current CAPTCHA tests, such that if someone were accessing data remotely there is no way the website would know if it is a real human, or an ...
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Why aren’t there advanced computers in an advanced society?
In the universe in question, there’s another intelligent silicon-based species, with the typical member of the species being many times as intelligent as humans. With intimate knowledge of quantum ...
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Is there a reason why computers of the 1920s-1980s look the way they do? [closed]
Good day all.
I'm currently penning a document for my worldbuilding project that deals with the aesthetic (or rather design language) of the world's current level of technology. For reasons ...
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How do these "mind-reading" microbes collaboratively compute as fast as neurons?
For some time now I've been trying at a plausible sort of "translation (or some other brain-affecting) microbe" concept. The main idea I'm basing this upon is of biofilms that could ...
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Can I get some help making my magic system allow for magically powered computers?
Ok, lemme start by explaining what I'm waffling about and apologizing cause this is gonna be a bad explanation.
In my world, magic is an invisible energy that is constantly generated everywhere in the ...
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Is it reasonable for the development of faster-than-light travel to significantly slow the development of machine learning technology? [closed]
One of the settings I'm in the very early stages of working on is based on the idea that, if humans had somehow developed faster-than-light travel in the mid 2000s, the development of machine learning ...
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Is this timeframe realistic for compact full-brain simulation?
The year is 2175, and at this point, there are compact ASIC systems (no larger than a 2024 smartphone) that use a combination of powerful dedicated processors and some quantum computing subsystems ...
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How would computers develop in a society where a Cherokee-like language is the dominant lingua franca?
I am writing a book set in a parallel universe where English is not the dominant language and the dominant language is a complex polysynthetic language that makes use of a complex system of word ...
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