

Engineers develop a computer that operates on water droplets - DocSavage
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/june/computer-water-drops-060815.html

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beambot
For those who are unfamiliar with Prakash's work... He did his PhD at MIT's
Media Lab on "Microfluidic Bubble Logic", which is the earlier basis for this
work. Here's his thesis (big PDF):
[http://cba.mit.edu/docs/theses/08.09.Prakash.pdf](http://cba.mit.edu/docs/theses/08.09.Prakash.pdf)

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silveira
How to create logical gates (XOR, AND, etc) using water:
[http://www.blikstein.com/paulo/projects/project_water.html](http://www.blikstein.com/paulo/projects/project_water.html)

And more here:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluidics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluidics)

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Natsu
Personally, I prefer making logic gates with magma:

[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=54046.0](http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=54046.0)

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cnp
Curious if anyone has any other potential applications they can share? The
authors listed only a few, but the possibilities seem quite vast.

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sumitviii
What possible applications?

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cnp
Meaning, what other possible real-world uses can be conceived of?

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GuiA
Reminds me of the water integrator, a water based computer built in the Soviet
Union in the 20s:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_integrator](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_integrator)

And also of MONIAC, a computer from the late 40s that modeled the UK's economy
using water:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MONIAC_Computer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MONIAC_Computer)

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digi_owl
MONIAC was the first i thought about as well.

Note that it was created by the same guy that gave economics the Phillips
curve. And frankly the hydraulic computer was his better work.

Why it has gotten ignored is perhaps because it is inherently non-equilibrium
and packed with feedback loops, both elements that are anathema to
(neo-)classical economics.

If someone wants to have a look at a modern replacement, i would recommend
Minsky.

[http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/minsky/](http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/minsky/)

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jhallenworld
I assume this is works the same way as bubble memory?

[https://www.gsalmasi.com/almasiconsulting/bubbles/index.html](https://www.gsalmasi.com/almasiconsulting/bubbles/index.html)

Video embedded in the link above was not working for me, it's on youtube:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rqPmjmQOxw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rqPmjmQOxw)

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mey
If the methodology works with arbitrary fluid droplets (not just water) there
could be interesting work done from blood analysis to drug synthesis.

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mhb
Maybe I missed it, but it doesn't work with water. They're using ferrofluid.

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erroneousfunk
Guy Steel thought of this in the 70's: [http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/A/ad-
hockery.html#crunchly73...](http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/A/ad-
hockery.html#crunchly73-10-31) (Caution: Terrible puns) Click the link below
each cartoon to read the series.

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kwhitefoot
And no one has, yet, mentioned Glooper from Making Money.

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pcunite
Windows XP?

