![]() 02/15/2020 at 16:15 • Filed to: None | ![]() | ![]() |
Is a transmission’s valve body technically a computer?
![]() 02/15/2020 at 16:16 |
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Is an ant hive technically a computer?
![]() 02/15/2020 at 16:17 |
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looks like a cool maze
![]() 02/15/2020 at 16:20 |
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No, it’s just witchcraft.
![]() 02/15/2020 at 16:22 |
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Well,
![]() 02/15/2020 at 16:22 |
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Well, since it doesn’t “store state” and basically has no memory, I’m going with “NO”.
One could conceivably make an argument that it’s a form of specialized analog computer— er, maybe... but the heavy lifting is in the valves and the control system behind the valves. The best I can come up with is the valve body being “the wiring” but not the actual computer.
YMMV
![]() 02/15/2020 at 16:32 |
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it’s more or less a “finite state machine.” it can be in one of a finite number of states depending on finite lists of input and output conditions.
![]() 02/15/2020 at 16:33 |
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Just because it looks like circuit boards doesn't mean it is
![]() 02/15/2020 at 16:37 |
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it would be a circuit, not a computer. it isn’t calculating anything. It’s closer to a chip.
![]() 02/15/2020 at 19:00 |
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What Bird Is the Word said. It’s certainly computing something, but since it’s fixed-function and not programmable, it’s only a simple hydraulic circuit and not a computer. Computers are defined by their programmability.
![]() 02/16/2020 at 00:30 |
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Not a full computer, but for a specific input it provides a specific non-variable output so a calculator.
![]() 02/16/2020 at 13:28 |
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There’s a science fiction series I read where a bunch of virally intelligence boosted spiders use ant colonies as computers, and continue to do so even as they develop space ships. They eventually contact a race of intelligence boosted octopuses and all hell breaks loose. Very cool.