Other methods of energy transmission?

[SagaLore]

Remove the 3 most common forms of energy that was use:

- electricity (flowing electrons)
- mechanical (gears, fluid pressure)
- heat

What do we have left?

I know that optical data transmission has been around for awhile, and at some point we can build optical processors. (I've read articles about building light switching transistors by doping silicon with selenium) I've seen applications of moving objects with light, but it didn't appear practical for much. We can turn motors with magnetism, and transmit radio waves - but how can we process magnetism without dealing directly with free electrons?

 

[Bladen]

Gravitational and chemical.

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: Bladen
Gravitational and chemical.

Not sure how you would harness gravity for a CPU... although I did read in one of my scifi novels about an artificial blackhole that had consumed so much matter that it bordered the event horizon, which ended up bending time so that it existed in all points in the past and future - so its own fluctuations created a capacity for both data and intelligence.

Good point on the chemical - which I suppose can also be classified as biological. DNA is an excellent encoding of instructions, and combined with RNA and supporting structures that make up a cell - it becomes all a computer, data storage, and form of movement. Nice. :thumbsup:

 

[Cogman]

You should be able to use any form of energy to transmit data, however some are a bit impractical. Most early machines (heck some current ones two) used kinetic energy. Again, really impractical, but possible to make a simple computer with it.

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: Cogman
You should be able to use any form of energy to transmit data, however some are a bit impractical. Most early machines (heck some current ones two) used kinetic energy. Again, really impractical, but possible to make a simple computer with it.

Right, but that falls into the mechanical category.

 

[BrownTown]

electromagnetic waves are obviously the biggest. Between light, microwaves, radio, infrared, etc.. Not really "electrical" in the sense you use, but electricity is likely what is being used to produce them.

 

[liquid51]

Originally posted by: SagaLore
Not sure how you would harness gravity for a CPU... although I did read in one of my scifi novels about an artificial blackhole that had consumed so much matter that it bordered the event horizon, which ended up bending time so that it existed in all points in the past and future - so its own fluctuations created a capacity for both data and intelligence.

Alastair Reynolds. The Revalation Space series if I'm not mistaken. Am I right?

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: liquid51

Originally posted by: SagaLore
Not sure how you would harness gravity for a CPU... although I did read in one of my scifi novels about an artificial blackhole that had consumed so much matter that it bordered the event horizon, which ended up bending time so that it existed in all points in the past and future - so its own fluctuations created a capacity for both data and intelligence.

Alastair Reynolds. The Revalation Space series if I'm not mistaken. Am I right?

Bingo.

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: Bladen
Gravitational and chemical.

strong and weak nuclear forces as well. Would be interesting if we could harness the strong force. One screwup and the sol system is toast.

 

[StopSign]

Originally posted by: Bladen
Gravitational and chemical.

Gravitational = mechanical because you can't just "use" gravity, you need to harness it

Chemical = a combination of electric, mechanical and thermal because again, you have to harness it first

These are sources for energy, not methods of transmission.

 

[Ice Czar]

while it would likely fall under the mechanical classification
the old school way to transmit information might have new potentials

sound

for the latest in photon
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co...rticle/2007/01/18/AR2007011801683.html

quantum computing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapped_ion_quantum_computer

quantum encryption
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_encryption