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A comment on Mechanical Computing Systems Using Only Links and Rotary Joints.

Re:Mechanical Computing Systems Using Only Links and Rotary ... by narrator on Friday January 12, 2018 @08:18PM (#16137703)
Isn't this how the technology was described in Stephenson's book "The Diamond Age" in which computing was done with nanoscale Babbage like machines?
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Re:Mechanical Computing Systems Using Only Links and Rotary ... by abecedarius on Friday January 12, 2018 @09:24PM (#16137915)
Pretty much. See Nanosystems, linked in another comment, for a technical treatment. Its logic design used sliding rods, so friction could be more of an issue, especially if you can't make it atomically precise. (With atomic precision you could design the surfaces for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superlubricity) Quick intro here: http://www.halfbakedmaker.org/blog/58

Merkle wrote a later paper on a different approach, buckling-spring logic: http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/mechano.html I'm not sure how this latest design is supposed to be better still. I haven't really dug into either of them.

BTW this is the same Merkle who's always getting mentioned in blockchain articles.

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