When I was a kid, I saw the original Rollerball, which featured a minor appearance by a computer made of water. I thought that was a pretty cool idea. The next day, I read a review panning the movie. Among other problems, the review complained about the use of "the standard science-fiction cliché of the water-based computer". Having thought this was one of the movie's original ideas, I was surprised and disappointed about this. I was just a kid, and this was a movie reviewer, so I figured it must be true.
I hadn't thought about this for years, but earlier today here at ADHOC, the subject came up in conversation with Wolf Rentzsch and Shane Looker (yes, this is a typical kind of ADHOC conversation). Now that I'm, ah, no longer a kid, I still don't know of any other instances of water-based computers. So Wolf and Shane suggested I ask you, dear readers. Ever heard of water computers in science fiction? Or is this Apple's next big secret technology?
(By the way, the original Rollerball is worth watching. There's a good review here.)
The Cray-2, which may appear to the layman to be water-based, was featured in one of Tom Clancy's books (Red Storm Rising?) in the eighties. But in 1975...?
Posted by: Chris T | Saturday, July 24, 2004 at 08:46 PM
In Danny Hillis' book "The Pattern on the Stone," he discusses how the system of gates used by computer processors could be built using hydraulics (valves and pipes) instead of silicon.
Posted by: Buzz Andersen | Sunday, July 25, 2004 at 04:02 PM
The new I, Robot has a giant positronic brain that looks kinda liquidy. I don't recall that the movie told the actual substance.
Posted by: Scott | Sunday, July 25, 2004 at 10:14 PM
Assumably a positronic brain actually uses positrons (anti-particles of electrons). When you have trillions upon trillions whizzing around in one place, they'd probably look like a liquid
Posted by: Kris | Tuesday, December 20, 2005 at 03:54 AM
Can anyone give us the name of
the Water Based Computer in Geneva?
We think it was called "Zero"! IF
not we are ready to stand corrected. Those that are fans..
remember that "Zero" had misplaced
all of the 13th Century. Most of
its answers were ambiguous or
garbled! Giant Crystal Computers
could be more reliable...but maybe
"Zero" was a Crystal Computer wrapped with some type of fluid
based buffer material.
Posted by: Ron & Anna Winship | Wednesday, November 07, 2007 at 08:19 AM