Yes, indeed if you used the word "computer" in 1950, this is what they would think you are talking about. It's not a programmed Babbage type mechanical computer - rather - is an analogue machine, doesn't use numbers internally at all. Skip to 1.26 to see the computer in action. Just a minute or two of it.
They could go on and develop analogue electronic computers also - instead of the numbers based digital computers we have. They'd have many challenges to meet - but then the early digital computers did also.
Hard to say if a technological society much like us that developed analogue computers instead of our digital computers would be further ahead than us or behind us by now.
Surely at any rate they'd be able to develop an analogue electronic computer based technology one way or another.
Here are a few things we are exploring as humans - which might also point the way to alternative histories for other ETs.
(extract from Robert Walker's answer to Is it possible that an alien civilization has completely different mathematics than ours? Is mathematics absolute?)
At 1:45 "If you look inside a computer, you find an impressive assembly of basic mechanisms. Some of them are duplicated many times in one computer"If they have no idea of numbers - or numbers are very abstract concepts for them - then they could still have analogue computers like this, as the computers are based on direct analogue connections between things and don't need to use numbers as such.
Wikipedia article about it, range keeper.
They could go on and develop analogue electronic computers also - instead of the numbers based digital computers we have. They'd have many challenges to meet - but then the early digital computers did also.
Hard to say if a technological society much like us that developed analogue computers instead of our digital computers would be further ahead than us or behind us by now.
Surely at any rate they'd be able to develop an analogue electronic computer based technology one way or another.
Here are a few things we are exploring as humans - which might also point the way to alternative histories for other ETs.
- Here is 1998 research into analogue computer chips using mainly continuous sheets of materialwith no circuitry in them - and a few fuzzy logic gates.
- A prediction that our computer chips will go analogue anyway in futureas chips get so small that the transistors can no longer hope to deal with discrete data
- Recent work into computers based on neural nets - that is to say analogue neural nets, not the digital versions of them. Generally,neuromorphic engineering.
- A three year project, started March 2013, to make computers from slime mould, making use of their analogue computing capabilities.
(extract from Robert Walker's answer to Is it possible that an alien civilization has completely different mathematics than ours? Is mathematics absolute?)
About the Author
Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
4.8m answer views110.4k this month
Top Writer2017, 2016, and 2015
Published WriterHuffPost, Slate, and 4 moreHuffPost, Slate, Forbes, Newsweek, Business Insider, and Science 2.0