Scientists Create Crash-Proof Computer Using Chaos and Randomness

Alex

Computer crashes may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to new research by University College London computer scientists Peter Bentley and Christos Sakellariou. They've created a crash-proof computer by introducing chaos and randomness:

OUT of chaos, comes order. A computer that mimics the apparent randomness found in nature can instantly recover from crashes by repairing corrupted data.

Dubbed a "systemic" computer, the self-repairing machine now operating at University College London (UCL) could keep mission-critical systems working. For instance, it could allow drones to reprogram themselves to cope with combat damage, or help create more realistic models of the human brain.

Everyday computers are ill suited to modelling natural processes such as how neurons work or how bees swarm. This is because they plod along sequentially, executing one instruction at a time. "Nature isn't like that," says UCL computer scientist Peter Bentley. "Its processes are distributed, decentralised and probabilistic. And they are fault tolerant, able to heal themselves. A computer should be able to do that."

Paul Marks of The NewScientist explains how: Link


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As a mom, all I can say is that I wish there was a website of all these videos of people being stupid. It could be called, "No, Don't Do That!" Kids could watch it everyday to learn why they shouldn't do things like play hockey with a burning puck after dousing their hockey gear with lighter fluid. Or skateboard without protective gear. Or hang their bodies out of car windows while attempting to steer with their feet. Or jump off the roof into a pile of ANYTHING. Or try to use their rectum as a bottle-rocket-launcher.

Or try to pull down a tree that is longer than their truck with said truck.

It would save parents a lot of lecturing which kids don't listen to anyway.
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So there was a guy driving the truck, right? WTF? Those losers stand around like nothing happened. Wasn't the guy crushed?

Aside from that, this is another good reason to encourage math studies in school, especially geometry.
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I wish I could say "What unique idiots" but I can't since I have a history that is far worse, trying to lower a tall (100'?) transmitter tower using only a military 6X6 on a windy ridge.

Good news is it didn't hit any body or any thing of value.

100' an exaggeration? Truth is I have no idea anymore, but there were three or four guy wires at each anchor, and when we hack-sawed up the thing the pieces filled the 6X6.

And actually, the driver exits the driver's side door.

What did I expect to see? Either that, or the broken cable knocking the house down (I assume it wouldn't have been shown here if the broken cable had beheaded somebody--which is a high likelihood outcome--consider if the cable had broken near the tree. The real idiots are the people standing around, the driver is relatively safe inside the truck.
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Before the palmetto hit the truck, I was thinking, "that can't be good for the clutch."

You know, I don't think I've ever seen a palm tree up close. My travels throughout this grand country have neatly circumvented the areas in which palm trees are common. There are a lot of monkey puzzle trees around here, though.
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thank you for a good laugh! they are really lucky the wire didn't snap first and take one of the morons standing next to the truck out. and how could they not even flinch or visibly react to a tree falling onto a truck??
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That's just like those Funniest Videos shows. I hate that I love them, but I love them. Everytime they open a shot on a trampoline you just know it's going to be gold. When will we learn that gravity is NOT our friend.
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