Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Simulation computer

 Disclaimer, I don't know very much about computers so try and bear with me if the idea seems only 1/10th baked.
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Build a computer which uses a large number of wires in a shielded container which when the computer is running there is about this collection of wires a magnetic field, if the current in one of the wires is changed the whole magnetic field is changed just that much, in both magnitude and geometry, that change can then be measured by the other wires and the result is computed.

In other words each wire in the field acts as a data point in a field of which the rest state is known and by altering one or more of these data points the effect on the whole field can then be determined and a computation arrived at.

Could be very usefull in simulations.

—Spaceman Spiff, Feb 28 2009

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       This has a 1910 feel to it.
—bungston, Feb 28 2009
   

       I thought it had a more 1930's feel: could sub this in for a Hammond ToneWheel for an interesting synthesizer.   

       [+] on the original concept though: You've got "bits'n'bytes" that can be read or can affect other subsystems with varying degrees of precision and an angular function, simultaneously.
—FlyingToaster, Mar 01 2009
   

       Perhaps, but the geometry of the wires will be fixed and dependent on the simulation being performed and I don't think there's anything going on here that can't be done better, faster and cheaper in software.
—phoenix, Mar 01 2009
   

       //faster and cheaper in software// running on a $500 computer with a 400w draw and a 3yr lifespan.
—FlyingToaster, Mar 01 2009
   

       This would be a very good way of simulating the complex magnetic fields around a large collection of current-carrying wires. [+]
—MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 01 2009
   

       Sounds a little like core memory, so in that sense, baked.
—AbsintheWithoutLeave, Mar 01 2009
   

       So this is an analog computer (once widely baked, though not anymore), just implemented in a very impractical way?
—notexactly, Apr 22 2019
   
      
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