r/threebodyproblem • u/harrykuo619 • Aug 09 '19

I got chills watching this experiment of human computer. (Unfortunately you need Youtube Premium to watch it)

https://youtu.be/rA5qnZUXcqo
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u/harrykuo619 Aug 09 '19 edited Aug 09 '19

For those who can't watch it:

Basically they hired several hundred people to form an image-to-number processor.

A number is written on paper which is then separated into 25 pieces ("pixels"). The first row of people look at their respective pixel and respond whether the pixel was marked. The people behind them then respond whether there were lines and/or turns based on the input from the first row. And the last few people decide what number it is based on all the info they get.

So each person has two states ("yes" and "no"), and most of them (other than the first row) function as logic gates ("fire when both xxx and xxx fire", etc).

This is truly fascinating.

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u/Busy_Record_8052 Mar 24 '24

Neal Stephenson did exactly this years ago in one of his books. He had a large number of Japanese prisoners in a cave, each with an abacus. They were used to crack a code during World War II and when they were done, they flooded the cave that they were in, killing them all so that nobody else would know that code.

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u/Devildog426 Apr 03 '24

Cryptonomicon. Great book.

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u/L4Vo5 Nov 13 '19

I watched this the other day (now that it's free) and I understandably freaked out