Skip to content

Tag Archives: computers

The Minus World and the Blue Screen Of Death

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

When the computer crashes, it seems like it’s frozen. Actually, it’s still working as fast as usual. It only appears to be stuck because it isn’t responding to you. The computer is too busy to take input because it’s in a loop, executing the same short list of instructions over and over. Computers have become [...]

Filed in Software, Video Games | Also tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (3)

Brain vs computer: which is better?

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Do computers think? Is the brain a computer? We use computers as metaphors for the brain and vice versa. Is the comparison apt? Brains and computers can imitate each other in limited ways. Deep down, how much similarity is there?

Filed in Evolution, Hardware, Physics | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments (2)

Inside the black box

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Engineers describe a system whose input and output behavior are known and whose inner workings are otherwise mysterious as a black box. Bruno Latour describes the black box as: the way scientific and technical work is made invisible by its own success. When a machine runs efficiently, when a matter of fact is settled, one [...]

Filed in Hardware, Interfaces, Software | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

How transistors think

Saturday, March 28, 2009

The parts of the computer that do the “thinking” are mostly made of little electronic switches called transistors. If you connect two wires to a transistor, you can use the voltage on one wire to control the voltage on the other. What’s especially handy for engineering purposes is that the presence or absence of a [...]

Filed in Hardware | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (1)