I'm gonna get flamed to no end for this but...

[yahooadam]

A toaster does not computer whether or not to burn your toast. And i doubt that it has memory "You need memory" - Rabidpeanut

The only memory i can see is the rehostat setting which goes from 'You call this toast?' to 'Why are there flames shooting out of my window?'
unless u have some kind of digital toaster isnt that just a pot that adjusts how hot the elements get

or how long it toasts for

 

[joset]

Hello, people!

Hello, man!

Statistics: As you can see, out of more than 100 posts (up until now), only five are yours.
Is that a symptom of something or what? Even if you feel you've been damaged enough, in your self-esteem, don't give up, man!
First off, it allows [some of] us to "shine" with our "bright" criticisms (both constructive and... hillarious); it's important to be able to laugh at yourself and have enough sense of humour not to be - easily - beaten by others'... well, comments;
Then, even without your "presence", I keep saying that, this was one of the best threads i've been through (you're the author!) and i hope this discussion to continue, although - if possible - with more educated input;
And lastly, why not to defy the very "Tomshardware" staff team to pour down a bit of their own expertise, in here? After all, it's their home too, and engineering competence & boldness aren't lacking, right?
It's more than just a thought: I believe it could be rather helpful. So, if someone has the communication skills to do it...

 

[yahooadam]

posted on a forum that linked me to this thread

i think it pretty much sums up this entire thread

So no we've got this sqaure of silicon that contains no instruction sets, registers or cache. It is just a random bit of pretty coloured mineral. And now we are just going to leave this alone and watch, waiting for it to produce the answer (and question) for Life, the Universe and Everything!

 

[oolceeoo]

Thank you. I'll know more as time passes

 

[Zalphor]

Hey everyone. I don't know if anyone remembers my question a few months ago I posted on here about a theory that I have. It basically was that I believe that computers can exist without memory.

I want some input as to what I should do with my testing of this theory. I fully expect that if I do get any responses, I will be called stupid, go home kid, this is not a place for homework, idiotic, etc. But I hope that maybe atleast one reader will take me seriously.

I am putting my theory to the test currently that computers can indeed function without memory. What I am doing is getting very old computers and purposely overheating them with a heat gun. Why am I doing this? Well, I've seen video controllers overheat and produce artifacts on the screen. These artifacts are what you would consider a computer 'malfunction'. I propose that a computer malfunction, aside from software bugs, could possibly be the computer operating 'on its own'. A malfuction would be something that is not doing what it was intended to do.

Since computer circuitry that gets too hot is permanently damaged and will die prematurely, the key is finding the right balance of heat that can produce these artifacts without damaging the circuitry. This is proving to be very difficult, and since I don't know of anyone doing something like this, I don't know how to do it yet either.

I know that this all sounds crazy and a big waste of perfectly good computers, but I feel as though this could lead to something big. Please post some constructive criticism, and not just 'you are an idiot.' i get that enough each day.

Two crazy thoughts from me.

How about this, a computer that is built in such a way that each processing step assigns a number or signal/pattern to the information passing through. so that every time it goes to the next node the next node processes it a certain way based on how it came in. although it would require a ton of hardware and would probably take forever to use being as its such an extraneous process. too me it sounds awesome even as extraneous as it is.

another theory of mine would be that you can remove physical storage and have a cloud like storage based on some sort of magnetic field or energy that could be captured or released but would not disappear or fade. not necessarily in the same way the older magnetic barrel shaped hard drives were made but something to that degree. almost like putting information into the magnetic space around you but your computer has a receiver that can pick up and interpret that data(along with spitting it out). in all technicality it still uses storage but its still a diverse and interesting concept.