The 10,000 Domino Computer

[@marcgro4111]

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

[@heekoo4428]

Lol

[@Dohyden2]

''ok we just need to turn it off and on again, come back in 4 hours''

[@jamesvogt4739]

It took 3 days to turn it on and off and it didn't work

[@NacnudPinky]

Marc Groß my dad says that all the time at work

[@manuelf1181]

9

[@TrainTsarFun]

Love that “we did get the correct answer. We got an incorrect answer as well” lol! Very neat to see how this works.

[@sophiacristina]

It is a glitch!

[@deansmith4752]

a quantum computer

[@StormTheSquid]

A Parker Answer, if you will.

[@yash1152]

19:30

[@tomq6491]

or how it doesn't work. Great video though. It reminds me of what people said about math/ maths 50 or so years ago. The kids then followed strict algorithms. They could always get the right answer but didn't know why it was. With more conceptual maths of recent years they don't get the right answer, but they know why it is wrong.

[@alquinn8576]

Q "what keeps you up at night?" A "exclusive or gates made of dominoes"

[@Zaknaberrnon]

#DominoGate

[@aprx2980]

There's something about that which makes me cringe a *bit.*

[@aidan_lol1235]

Al Quinn it's more commonly known as the XOR gate

[@DanielFoerster]

+Aidan_lol 123 XOR is an abbreviation of eXclusive OR.

[@nemesisurvivorleon]

what will really keep you awake at night is knowing that politics is just a human XOR gate

[@Kengur8]

Will we ever be able to go below 14 nm with this dominos process technology?

[@BrianHuynhPersonal]

totally

[@MerthanE]

XD

[@video2k007]

you mean 14 nautical miles? :)

[@skatcat743]

nanometers.

[@irchonite1953]

"nautical miles" is a fuckin joke skatcat, if you didn't get it

[@nicololupi49]

i think that the operative system i's called "dominOS"

[@aspirus425]

take my upvote

[@nicololupi49]

@@aspirus425 ty bro

[@sumide8761]

What a joke

[@mrmoth26]

@@aspirus425 Like*

[@chloepeifly]

underappreciated comment

[@R2D2internet]

"This is the >>bit

[@maxbuskirk5302]

+ASG_8 Also, "I'm a bit worried because . . ."

[@lokalnyork]

+ASG_8 Math Jokes? I'll byte.

[@fugazinemesis]

+ASG_8 To 'sum' up, I think your comment is 'negative' to a 'positive', although 'divided', result. You've set off joke comments that are going 'multiply'. 'One' can not begin to 'factorise' the 'mean'ing of what's been done. I've 'add' enough of this 'rational'. The 'angle' is too 'odd'; 'obutse' 'even'. It would be 'beta' to 'googol' to the 'nth degree' some sort of 'volume' apology.

[@christiandevey3898]

I. Didn't catch that one

[@bonbonpony]

+Local Ork Word up ;J

[@ComputersAreRealCool]

This computer is faster than the ones we have at school, and probably has more advanced technology in it as well.

[@shadowranger937]

yep

[@Firesite8514]

THE THING IS THAST PROBS TRUE

[@charlieknapp6735]

I took the front off one of the computers at school. Inside was just a room full of dominoes...

[@magnusanderson6681]

Charlie Knapp THIS IS WHAT THE GOVERNMENT USES DIMENSIONAL STORAGE FOR?

[@permanentcloak1283]

Magnus Anderson this.

[@jfb-]

Almost worked - classic Parker Square that is

[@JasonMitchellofcompsci]

A parker square is him saying money is logorithmic because it fits linearly on log scale. But USD isn't because it's all the sames size... which would still fit linearly on a log scale.

[@yoavshati]

Parker calculator

[@aaroncsoka7294]

...Murphy's Law also strong on this one, haha 😅

[@ShroudedWolf51]

Two words: Dead horse.

[@PewReview]

I was JUST about to comment that, damn.

[@timlarkin4471]

On the bright side, the kids got to see more dominoes fall.

[@hedgehog3180]

I think this has made me understand how computers work. I could never understand how electricity could calculate anything. The trick is that they don't. It's just cleverly designed so that it will give the right answer to the input and then you scale it up and account for different types of input, but at the base all a computer is doing is adding and subtracting, which to a computer are really the same thing.

[@MiniNinja2003]

Honestly, if you can make coding to add, then you could code it to multiply, and when you can multiply, you can basically do anything. You can think of a computer as a very big group of 1st graders answering a series of simple math questions.

[@metallicman711]

computers generally don't even have circuitry to subtract. they can use a thing called two's complement which allows them to subtract using only adding circuitry

[@KnakuanaRka]

Josh S (Not for the guy I’m replying directly to) In case you’re wondering about two’s complement, the equivalent in ten digits is doing a subtraction like 9-6 by doing 9+(1000-6)=9+994=1003. This is 1000 too high, but if you only can read the last three digits, the extra 1000 “overflows” and is removed, leaving the correct answer of 3.

[@JamesThompson-zu3bq]

@@KnakuanaRkahow does the computer know that 1000 - 6 is 994 if we don't have subtractive circuits?

[@KnakuanaRka]

@@JamesThompson-zu3bq There’s something known as “two’s complement” in binary; basically, IIRC, a string of all ones (like 1111) is generally the maximum value you can hold in a binary number of a certain length, which is one less than 2^the number of digits. So if you flip all the bits in a number, you get something that sums with the original to get all ones/the maximum; if you then add one, you get something that’s 2^digits - the original number, without any explicit subtraction. It’s a little more complicated with signed numbers, but the execution is the same. The equivalent in base 10 would be like starting with a number like 006, using a lookup table to subtract each digit from 9 (switch 0-9, 1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5) to get 993, and adding one to get 994.

[@Violent2aShadow]

Can a domino computer become self-aware and destroy humanity?

[@danieljiang9985]

Only if it's big enough

[@JohnnyYenn]

+Violent2aShadow That's what happens in the movie Transcendence. Johnny Depp uploads his brain to a super-powerful domino computer and threatens humanity...

[@iyokan7979]

+Violent2aShadow Yes. But only once. Also, it takes 7 years.

[@iyokan7979]

Abhinav Sharma That is completely plausible, just remember that it only works once.

[@manooxi327]

+Abhinav Sharma F4?

[@Will6753]

Even though the big one didn't work, you still set the record, and impressed a lot of people out there.

[@Will6753]

Also this gave me yet another reason to be scared that my calculator is wrong during a test, oh boy.

[@vicr123]

Nah, electricity isn't dominos. (That sounds weird.) You'll be fine. Good luck :)

[@the_diamond_arrow1901]

Yah don't be disappointed you got the record

[@texannationalist5887]

unless you calculator is so compact that quantum tunneling becomes an issue, I wouldn't worry about it

[@Hevesh5]

I'm a 'professional domino builder' and I hate building with mexican train dominoes because they spread out so much when they fall :/ (especially when turning). If only you had put some sort of barrier at each turn, blocking the dominoes from spreading out and hitting another line, it would have worked perfectly :D Interesting concept though making a computer out of dominoes!

[@DFX2KX]

don't they have particular dominoes for that sort of thing? They're colorful, and have hard edges?

[@robsim37]

I was thinking precisely the same thing about placing blocking material between the lines. This is essentially what insulation on wiring does for electronics. It prevents signal "bleed":.

[@TheHamoodz]

Hevesh! big fan here, can u please try to make a a computer just like what they did? PLEASE?

[@Kaplamino]

Hey Hevesh, why you don't try to make it bigger ^^

[@ForOhFor]

Gotta insulate your wires, yeah.

[@AntonioZL]

I remember watching this 4 years ago, understanding almost none of it. Today, xor/and gates, half adders, all of it is clear as the sky to me. These are the moments where you notice that studying hard paid off.

[@davidbilia2371]

Is that 1 domino that fell like electron migration if cpus get to compact

[@ferociousfeind8538]

David Bilia Yes! :)

[@clancywiggum3198]

No, it's more analogous to quantum tunneling or other causes of current leaking of current between 2 adjacent circuits. Electron migration refers to movement of the *conductor* being driven around by the electrons, and is best understood as a type of wear and tear, where sections of conductor can get worn away as the atoms forming them get shoved to other areas by the electron flow.

[@MrCmon113]

It's like induction due to insufficient isolation. Come to think of it, it's the very same scenario when you imagine such induction taking place right before a signal gets amplified.

[@Digging4AnswersOfficial]

Can it run Crysis at 4K?

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Surely if you build a display for it and solve the problem of bringing the dominoes back up. And if you are talking of playing in 4x3 with 10 frames per month? Than it can run Crysis.

[@hamzakais1762]

lmao

[@Templarfreak]

But can it run it in 4K AND in 60FPS?

[@thiantromp6607]

Digging4Answers at one frame per week

[@GeometryDashEndermaster]

1 frame per 100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 eons

[@grahamrich9956]

The bleed problem reminded me of the quantum tunneling problem computers are soon to run into. Very interesting.

[@leungclj]

+Graham Rich yup, quantum tunneling came up in my head too. The gap between two domino line are too close to each other, if the distance between two domino line is less than the width of a domino, the probability of a tunneling is much greater. Of course, if the lines are above and beyond the width of a domino, then the likely hood of tunneling decreases. Exactly the same thing is real circuit, probability and electron cloud.

[@DigGil3]

+Graham Rich Bleeding might also occur on a relatively macroscopic scale due stray capacitance, noisy lines from radiation, conductive particles sitting inbetween lines, etc.

[@htmlguy88]

+梁致朗（Jonathan Leung） width or height ? because technically if it falls straight and doesn't get flung it might as well be height which may be as many as three times the width.

[@bonbonpony]

+Graham Rich Now build a quantum computer out of dominoes ;)

[@grahamrich9956]

Bon Bon On it.

[@mixttime]

I always love Matt and his optimistic ways of explaining a situation where something looks really bad. I think my favorite in that department is Grahm's number. Something along the lines of "While the range may seem huge, in the frame of reference of all numbers there are infinitely more outside the range than inside it. So we've pretty much nailed it"

[@finleycastello6512]

*_I WOULD KILL FOR THAT PROCESSING SPEED ON MY COMPUTER!_*

[@Johnyknowhow]

Multiple minutes to calculate simple digit addition? How slow IS your computer?

[@Fizer005]

so slow it took his pc 2 years to make that comment

[@_.Dylan._]

T h a t s t h e j o k e

[@genericcookiedoplay3911]

Finley Castello are you Australian by any chance XD

[@Xeridanus]

Hey, our computers are just as fast as elsewhere. It's the internet that's slow.

[@guilldea]

the problem they had is kind of the problem classical computer architecture has with quantum physics

[@ferociousfeind8538]

Guille Arana Exactly! Such a good analogy! An electron simply jumping past a gap is exactly like a domino flying off to start a new signal!

[@guilldea]

If its gonna fuck with us we might as well harness it :)

[@Nillis97]

Guille Arana for what? Randomness?

[@guilldea]

Panda Matata quantum tunneling, particles can jump a bridge they shouldn be allowed to (classicaly)

[@avirukbasak]

Exactly!

[@robbiedart7422]

I just hope everyone who watched it truly appreciated the ingenuity of what they were watching!

[@Snickersmaan]

still faster than internet explorer

[@SethiozProject]

+Snickersmaan I agree + it's virus and adware free!

[@theg4mer6474]

Time to necro! It could easily be infected with a "virus". Step.1 Throw a rock at it.

[@dogman9223]

+theg4mer6474 lel

[@Reragi]

+theg4mer6474 step 1B: make a fat guy walk beside it

[@theg4mer6474]

Reragi With Clogs.

[@Xnerdz1]

I bet Microsoft based their Vista OS on dominos

[@moorefilmltd]

wooden dominos

[@nicholaslau3194]

No. Windows is an operating system, the dominos represent the CPU at the hardware level.

[@moorefilmltd]

+Nicholas Lau makes more sense

[@sazibas]

It was really nice to see you achieved the quantum barrier on your extremely squeezed domino computer. The Moore's Law probably not applicable in this context

[@porteal8986]

-_-

[@ZogZog333]

"Can I help you?" "Yes, I'd like to return these sets of dominoes please..."

[@tobiaspal]

"Why?" "They are buggy when adding two 4 bit numbers..."

[@icic]

9 + 3 = 30

[@tgvv2980]

Isak Hammarlund a parker sum!

[@Ali107]

9 + 10 = 21?

[@traywor]

@@Ali107 It's only the half of the answer.

[@faiselbutt2944]

The answer is in base 4

[@AdityaRaj-ez1te]

It could become a new meme

[@Srcsqwrn]

Now this whole domino show was quite amazing. I like seeing the inputs and outputs physically work. Thanks, fantastic.

[@Droggelbecherbot]

So that's how those minecraft calculators work..

[@lapissheepz8741]

Actually, not far fro the truth.

[@randomnobody660]

ideally, no. There are 2 ways of calculating the carrying bit that im aware of. One (ripple carry adder) is to wait for the previous calculation to finish so for example if you add 010 with 011 you add 0 and 1, you add the rightmost 0 and 1, you get a 1 and a carry of 0, then you add the middle 1, 1, and the carry 0, getting a 0 and carry 1, you then add 0 0 and 1 to get 1 to get 101. This is slow and seems to be what is done here. The faster way that requires more hardware but makes it faster (carry lookahead adder). Adding the abc with def, you do 3 calculations simultaneous 1. you add a, d, and [ (b and e) or ( (b xor e) and (c and f) ) ] to get x 2. you add b, e, and [ c and f ] to get y 3. you add c and f to get z in all 3 cases just assume 1+1=0 because we dont care about the carry bit, also in hindsight all three "add"'s probably should be replaced with "xor" for consistency, but you get the point. Your answer will be xyz. I'm sure you noticed while a lot of stuff is redone, the 2nd method will reach a result in 4 cycles. While the 1st seems more efficient, it takes significant more to reach the result. So no, +LapisSheepz, ideally, this is NOT how mc calcs work...right? At least a mixture after the size of the gate becomes a pain?

[@randomnobody660]

Also, in MC you have creative ways to make gates. With domino, you essentially make transistors, so...um...theres that too. I am aware that transistors are easy to make in MC; 1 piston blocking a signal would do it. i've just never seen anybody do it. Perhaps because it makes projects needlessly big since you can make most gates in comparable space?

[@randomnobody660]

***** well, not in mc, but im told irl cla gets slower as huge gates are inherently slow. Too many transistors per gate. Legend speaks of a combination that works well when doing, say, 32 digit calculations. It also doesn't take nearly as much space as a full CLA

[@timothynaff2663]

Except in minecraft the "force " used is a lot closer to electricity so you can make it without moving parts/ having to set up the computer for specific numbers

[@rohanpandey2037]

They should show this video in computer science classes.

[@kanecobe]

+Rohan Pandey yes. yes they should

[@stoneoxmike3036]

It was definitely interesting and awesome, but as a student, I thought it was fairly low level and didn't really explain anything other than 2 logic gates and basic circuitry. Most students would be better off buying a book in my opinion. That being said, it would have been interesting to see this video when I was just starting to learn.

[@VintageLJ]

+Rohan Pandey Maybe at a secondary level.

[@IroAppe]

A concept that is vastly underestimated is motivation. In the beginning, I would suggest that motivation is the most important thing, even more important than content. Because - once you have built up a strong motivation, a foundation, a reason why you want to comprehend the whole topic - once you have that, all learning will work better. Because you always can link your current situation to your greater vision of motivation, and that is a strong driver. That video is for that reason: Building up motivation. I have watched much in the past, that does not teach that much content in time, what could have been done, taking another style. But all that added to my motivation and fascination of the topic.

[@MrCmon113]

It's a bit long, but you could mention it as a fun example of the different ways you can realize boolean operations with different signals.

[@jeremiahhunter7147]

This is amazing. It explains the missing link I've had for years: how 0s and 1s work together to make bigger numbers.

[@DevotedMonk]

I love re-watching this, but now I'm thinking it's time to break the record again and make it bigger! mostly because i really find pleasure in learning about the trouble shooting when it goes wrong

[@TheDiggster13]

This has actually explained to me how computers count. Great way of visualising the problem.

[@Supergeckos1000]

There's no problem.

[@TheDiggster13]

There was something I didn't know. There is a method to how it works. I did not know that method. I now know how it works. Matches my definition of a problem.

[@Supergeckos1000]

So it's _your_ problem, but not _the_ problem?

[@RedTriangle53]

Lizard771 Then what the fuck else is this video for? Is the problem "how to push dominoes"?

[@NNOTM]

I suppose this is nit-picking, but note that this is adding, not counting. Counting would be repeatably adding one. Which is also something computers do, using the same circuit.

[@woodfur00]

Can this computer run Linux

[@andrewxc1335]

+woodfur00 Yes, but only once.

[@HubrisInc]

+andrewxc1335 No, it's only a four-bit computer. Linux requires an at-least 32-bit processor.

[@josephkeeley4898]

+Brok3nC4rrot So it could happen! Thats awesome!

[@ethanplant434]

+Joseph Keeley No this is one circuit maybe if this was 100000% bigger but last time checked computer can do more than math :)

[@josephkeeley4898]

+ZE catarmy ok... ):

[@Tasarran]

This is nerve-wracking just watching; must have been crazy working on it!

[@RobotMowerTricks]

this is probably the best teacher for a integrated circuit / processor

[@alistairbugg2413]

Faster than Australian Internet.

[@boxadmiral]

TheTassieMiner EXACTLY

[@LukeJF89]

Is that presenter dude Aussie or English?

[@gamingtutorials213]

TheTassieMiner so true

[@kayrunjaavice1421]

unless you have national broadband network

[@gamingtutorials213]

Larry's Empire well it sucks

[@GhostDrow]

You CAN build a computer out of domino's...as long as you are ok with 1 process destroying the computer.

[@IrizarryBrandon]

GhostDrow LOL

[@columbus8myhw]

You can make it happen with more reliability; you just need more dominoes (for error-correcting), or more space, or both.

[@vinzbrain]

+GhostDrow just use Windows for that

[@columbus8myhw]

vinzbrain An array of windows would be even worse, since the glass breaks every time one falls over. Unless you're suggesting using some sort of optic phenomenon?

[@Fornost461]

+columbus8myhw He probably meant the operating system, not actual windows (notice the use of the majuscule in his comment).

[@Tasarran]

I think it was actually a good thing that your circuit was also able to accurately model what happens when you reduce the size of a real circuit. In my mind that makes it an even better demonstration than a perfect run would have been.

[@simovihinen875]

What you COULD do is create a software that builds your domino computers for you and runs the simulation in a virtual environment.

[@simovihinen875]

And then you insert the domino software's code itself into the program and watch it loop infinitely creating the most overawingly mesmerising fractals. I'll have half of that Fields medal please.

[@1987kokoli]

Simo Vihinen dominocomputingception

[@simovihinen875]

WHY does everyone refer to that one movie every time something goes on another meta level these days? I'm fairly sure there was a time when that wasn't the only time that happened. Friggin' JOAN studied pataphysical science in the home back in '69.

[@1987kokoli]

Simo Vihinen well, I wasn't aware of joan and similarly, other people might not be aware of it either. I surely wouldn't make that reference

[@mthlay15]

minecraft?

[@fasterlight3834]

absolutely brilliant! also a clear demonstration of how much of the heavy lifting transistors do in your system, and how incredibly reliable they should be!

[@creepymaestro2843]

16:47 to 17:00 was the most tense moment of my life

[@Nogli]

What a shame. A real Parker Square moment.

[@Gotonis]

He gave it a go

[@charlotte1924]

THEORETICALLY, in a perfect world where the dominoes would reset them selves, would you be able to play super mario?

[@echaen1707]

This is how part of a computer works: the ALU (Arithmetic and Logic Unit). It's the bit of the CPU which adds. An ALU in a real computer, however, is able to add, subtract, and perform logical "bitwise" operations such as XOR or LSHIFT. Besides that, a modern computer also has a Processor, a Clock and Main Memory. So while this is certainly a computer, in that it can compute, it's not capable of running a program.

[@charlotte1924]

Would be cool though. ;)

[@alexandriariley5209]

+Dan Jones Only if you had some sort of domino LCD screen. In Minecraft, you would be able to build one using minecarts and redstone (using glass for the LCD screen).

[@CASTCorp]

Sure, if you're ok playing super mario 1 frame every minute!

[@bonbonpony]

+Dan Jones To do that, a real breakthrough is needed: to separate the information stored in the system (the actual 0s and 1s) from the flow of "charge" (the falling dominoes).

[@LemonChieff]

The result proves that with transistors getting smaller every year this kind of problem would happen in a real computer... The signal would intersect and shit would hit the fan this is why it's getting harder to create smaller circuits and this is one of the reasons why your computer probably has multiple cores instead of a really condensed core

[@giedriusgrigas6384]

The transistors cannot really become as small as physically possible. Dont quote me on that , but they are about 50 atoms in length. And making them smaller would allow electrons to tunner through semiconductors. So yea, your point is valid

[@Ardenmorsolias]

+Lemon Chief That's why we have quantum computers.

[@HamguyBacon]

+Lemon Chief yeah no, this isnt exactly how real computers work its a demonstration. Future computers will be ternary computers instead of binary and use Electrons, Atoms and Protons which are naturally negative positive and neutral.

[@firefox21xl]

+Hamguy Bacon I'm gonna need source on using atoms and protons. A proton does not behave in the same way an electron does & an atom consists of protons, neutrons, and electrons in a (relatively) large construct so again, won't behave in a way useful to computations. It is possible to have ternary computation, the Soviets had them. If these made a comeback it would use something like voltages (if its 0 plus or minus 0.5 its read as 0, over that is positive (1) and under that is negative (-1)).

[@Dome98Otaku]

+firefox21xl Just read up on quantum computers. They don't use the voltages but the spin of electrons.

[@niskajuu]

Would love to see an update video on how much the domino computers have progressed in almost a decade.

[@wallywutsizface6346]

19:53 When a teacher asks why you did your homework incorrectly

[@g_in_garage]

Hello brother

[@TevelDrinkwater]

It was cool seeing the 3 bit version work, but in some ways it was even cooler seeing the 4 bit version not work, and how it didn't work.

[@ApollonianKing]

You sir, whether or not your invention so well manifested by such dapper and trustworthy domino standers actually worked, are a wonderful and intimidatingly intelligent man. It's been great seeing you develop your own KZbin Channel, as it always is when I watch these videos from your collegiate associates about Math and science in general. Merci.

[@devjock]

Now that's a nice ripple counter! This is absolutely amazing! The half adders are beautifully constructed. No hard feelings that the 2's and 16's also fell. In modern electronic CPU's this is also a real problem, with electrons interacting on parrallel running data busses. The scale is towards the nanometers, but the effect is perfectly demonstrated. Really cool to see the large scale version be so accurate to it. Also, "The bit that keeps you awake at night" is a nice pun man ;)

[@spyrgelispyy]

This was actually a really interesting and clear way to describe how computers work and what problems might occur

[@mr.fluffythepekingese2737]

The flaw that got the error output is an example of what happens when there’s a faulty circuit that keeps giving you errors, it’s because electricity flows to another route that’s not supposed to go due to water spillage or just a broken hardware

[@SteelSkin667]

The signal bleed and timing problems are things that actually happen in the circuits of a computer. Having to space things out a little bit to avoid leaks and making circuits that zig-zag to adjust the timing are actually steps that are taken when developing chips and circuit boards..

[@MaxPanic]

That was awesome! It's a little know fact that many early computers actually used tiny dominos to perform calculation.

[@tevaalcindor]

Nope. My computer's still slower.

[@user-qj2pc2yz9f]

+TheJman0205 Windows XP is better than the rest, except for Windows 7.

[@user-qj2pc2yz9f]

***** Sadly true. However I would consider it the best when comparing the OS' in its prime. Well, if the OS HAD a prime (looking at you Vista and ME).

[@UnityGamin]

+Keep On With The Force and 10

[@bonbonpony]

+Teva Alcindor Did you build it from racing snails or something? :J Sounds like a neat idea for breaking another world record: to build the SLOWEST computer on the world ;)

[@mysss29]

...is...that...a thing...? ...no, it couldn't possibly... *checks*

[@tonyagueci7494]

This video made me cry tears of joy because I was baffled on how people like you can think of something out of the ordinary, and then pull it off, no matter how complex the task is! I probably would've never been able to figure out how the circuit failed in the second attempt, so hats off to you!

[@lxschwalb]

It did correctly add 0 + 0 before you tried 9 + 3, so it was a partial success

[@SenseiLeRoof]

I love how he has such good humor about the parts that shouldn't have happened.

[@Vodboi]

"We did get the correct answer, we just also got an incorrect answer as well" Matt Parker 2014

[@jonathanulrich8752]

5:03 that single tear

[@Salisbury2015]

I love how this was shot and edited! And Matt's enthusiasm as well as that of the team really shined through. Wonderful video.

[@Fudmottin]

2024 calling. This is still a great video. I hope it doesn't deter anyone from trying it again! Everything in this video is a real life analog of what happens in real computers.

[@IMortage]

My first thought on announcement of which numbers will be added: "Why just decide to add 4 and 6? Why not ask a kid which numbers to add to prove it could do any of them?" Probable answer: "Some variations would be kinda lame to run. You want to have to do a calculation that looks reasonably cool in execution."

[@JonathanSanderson]

I think the first time Matt rolled dice or something, but it took a long time and was all a bit confused on camera, so I cut that sequence. For the second run we had somebody from the audience pick a random domino, which you can see at 15:30.

[@ChibiRuah]

Although you failed. The effect and result were still awesome. just watching the inputs flow as so fun. Congrats you guys

[@darkmage07070777]

18:00 - I was literally biting my knuckles over this to work. So heartbreaking at the end, but amazing stuff anyway!

[@roofusonna1846]

We are at the frontiers of domino computing.

[@RemyNote]

Glad you brought these bits down to words in a bytesized format. Hexsterical.

[@yafi2475]

can we watch KZbin on this computer?

[@bonbonpony]

+Mashrur Ahmed Yafi Nope, but we can do the inverse: we can watch this computer on KZbin :)

[@tjja7321]

Mashrur Ahmed Yafi I’m tempted to say no, but yes “you can”

[@andresramirez-ut4se]

Of course, it would only take millions upon millions of dominos, and of course, a sistem that would put them back in their places in a way that you can see whats going on in real time. Have fun building it

[@krrishts6999]

After the dominoes fall it can't get up on its own

[@Eli-fj3sc]

no, but a channel in which the dominoes can rest and a string that can reset the dominoes a few seconds after it has been knocked over.

[@kevinocta9716]

Is it weird that while watching this video, I'm scarred to bump my desk to knock over the dominoes in the video?

[@joeyscerbo7776]

My dogs came running in and I was afraid that they were going to knock the dominos down!

[@AnonymousFreakYT]

Just discovered this, obviously. And I love the gate examples. Very good at showing not only how actual logic circuits work, but also at real problems! In your XOR gate, you demonstrate current leakage very well - when the signal goes "around" when it shouldn't.

[@honestgoat]

Its actually a really good way of demonstrating logic gates. Props guys. not just for the concept, but for how much effort you put into this.

[@abbieq11]

For some reason, I could not see Matt loving dominos so much at the beginning, but I really suits him

[@danieloh6782]

That would be so stressful to build

[@heimdall1973]

Or incredibly relaxing...

[@katie98711]

It's the Paker Square Domino Calculator!

[@jacksonstein809]

This is incredible! Not only did you create a calculator out of dominos, which is very awesome, but you gave me a better fundamental understanding of computers. Before watching this video, I had no idea how computers could work, but now it makes sense how very simple circuits (gates) can work together to create powerful calculators capable of out-performing even the brightest human. Thank you for this video.

[@yosefmacgruber1920]

My first computer, an Apple //e, its 6502 CPU, can not multiply nor divide. It only does one-byte addition, and subtraction, and various bit shifts. 8-bit data bus, and 16-bit address bus. Only 1 8-bit accumulator, and just 2 8-bit index registers. Yet when I ran AppleWorks on it, somehow it can multiply, divide, do y^x, do trigonometric functions, etc., and do all that to multiple bytes of accuracy. What gives? Well all of that stuff, can be derived in the form of iterations of additions and bit-shifts, so even its very limited CPU commands, are easily enough to compute just about anything. Although, not nearly as fast as modern computers can do it.

[@juicedmaster]

I never fully understood how electronic components (more complicated than resistors and capacitors) worked till watching this! Thank you!

[@krakow10]

I hear that deadmau5 - Maths remix, good choice

[@zenpigeon5944]

Came down here to comment about that!

[@miles2419]

"give us a round of applause anyway!" me omg

[@JohnGabrielUk]

Great! Now make it Turing complete.

[@jwnavagus]

No, why spend all that time to talk to us. We need the answer to the meaning of the universe. Quatum Domino Computer. QDC! QDC! QDC! QDC! QDC! QDC!

[@Fen1kz]

isn't it already? domino + builders as reset

[@JohnGabrielUk]

Fen1kz Turing machines need to be able to read and write to memory, though.

[@Fen1kz]

John Gabriel ahhh, yisss, sry, missed that point

[@MegaMementoMori]

You mean a domino computer that will pass the Turing test? 0_o I can imagine a domino computer that would be indistinguishable from a human ;)

[@simona625]

Watching this made my brain work overtime and come up with a modular 3D printable design to, 1 - prevent any errors, and 2 - make any size calculation possible

[@kyleknepper4016]

So our computer that was designed to add two numbers together gave an answer that required the user to add two numbers together. Genius!

[@leviangel97]

Kyle Knepper Realistically there'd be even more dominoes at the very end for all the possible numbers

[@underdoneelm7721]

Well by that logic a calculator that adds 134 + 273 to get 407 still requires us to add 3 number together. 4 * 10^2 + 0 * 10^1 + 7 * 10^0 = 400 + 70 + 3, Binary is the same just in base 2

[@ariryan8832]

This video makes me so anxious watching it. >_

[@BodomsScythe]

I know, right? Especially 11:00 :D EDIT: Okay, I saw 16:46 now... Holy cow Dx

[@ariryan8832]

Had3s Ikr.

[@PopeLando]

This *does* need to be on computerphile, along with a slightly more detailed explanation of how the dominoes are representing the action of electrons in silicon, germanium and the other materials. As Matt said, but could have emphasised even more, this Domino computer is a physical representation of ... a *physical* thing, actual things being knocked out to block pathways, etc.

[@NNOTM]

Note that the way the gates are built in dominoes does not exactly represent the way they are built with semiconductors. In semiconductors, you are usually limited to two kinds of transistors. The XOR gate for example has eight transistors in a typical (CMOS) circuit, which are connected in a totally different way than the Dominoes. You could emulate the transistors with dominoes, but the gates would be three times as large or something like that.

[@thephpjo]

as you probably noticed by now: it is on computerphile

[@NNOTM]

thephpjo It is on numberphile

[@shri03992]

This was way more interesting than Domino Day!

[@nemesisurvivorleon]

I like how after the cleanup you can see the chalk outlines of the xor gate intersections.

[@TheFloatingSheep]

Ok now you just need to build a little AI car that places the dominos based on a map, and then make a huge one, with 4 gigs of ram and a quad core processor. This is the future, who needs small computers, these are cooler.

[@niklasgransjen684]

TheFloatingSheep Gonna play some rad games on my domino computer

[@uiomancannot7931]

Why do you need a car? just put a string on the bottom and tighten it when you need to reuse it.

[@TheFloatingSheep]

Uioman Cannot well you need one to build it, we're talking about billions of dominos, nobody's got time fo da shit

[@uiomancannot7931]

Well yeah. but it would be better with something like that. magnets might even work.

[@CHKDSKHasTheBigGay]

build the ai car out of dominos

[@lolatomroflsinnlos]

19:01 At least George Lucas in the background is happy.

[@andyarijs]

Numberphile brought me here.

[@joebrad275]

It's about the size of an iPhone 7 plus

[@frazer26]

Love how this shows logic gates, diodes, cross talk and differential pairs

[@faithmagohara1529]

the camera transitions in this video is so good! I watched it like three times because it was so fun to watch

[@michaellieberman114]

Theoretically, you COULD build a domino calculator that did everything where the answer and the input numbers (question) were all less than 100. If you had a few square miles of free perfectly flat space you could do that. They need to invent ways to automatically make domino's stand up after being toppled, or have delay domino's that don't require turns and winding around things to add delay.

[@brycemckechnie4928]

But do you use dominoes to pull the strings and reset the circuit?

[@hhhsp951]

Math Teacher asks for me to take out addition calculator; Me: builds this Computer Science Teacher asks for me to take out addition calculator; Me: pulls out TI-84 Plus CE

[@donpicklle2663]

I would've knocked over the entire thing by accident. lol

[@gregkrazanski]

wow... honestly loved this style of editing, super dynamic. never thought of seeing anything presented this way before

[@sharkdavid]

Is it Christmas? Because this gives me pure joy. THE JOY OF SCIENCE!!!

[@NNOTM]

Just need to make it reusable now. I'm thinking attach each domino to a contraption that can make it stand up again if you give it some mechanical input, and then combine all those little contraptions and connect them to a lever.

[@BenjaminAlexander]

You might be interested in this patent. www.google.com/patents/US20100173557 It is a resetable track of hinged dominos. I think it would be an obvious extension to build larger components (the XOR or even the half-adder) as a resetable track.

[@NNOTM]

Benjamin Alexander Yeah, that's pretty cool

[@KvaGram]

Next step: make a domino computer that can run minecraft. in said minecraft, build a redstone calculator that does division. ...am I skipping some steps?

[@omikronweapon]

nope, that is indeed the very next step up from this.

[@vanderengland5775]

Datapod then make that run Minecraft, and make a computer to run unity, then make this

[@Zeuskabob1]

I think it'd be interesting to calculate what the physical footprint would be in order to run a single frame of minecraft under optimal conditions (minimum system spec, no startup time). There's an answer, but I suspect it would be larger than the land area of the planet.

[@jetison333]

It may not even be possible. with a regular computer, you can switch a line on, then off, and then back on again. with a domino computer you can only switch a line on, and then never switch it off again.

[@FHBStudio]

To prevent signal leaks, you could put up barriers. Just saying. Yes more effort, but also more security.

[@bjarnes.4423]

Watching this again a few years later, I can say that this video got me started with programming! Thanks for that Matt!!

[@jmalmsten]

So much time, so many things that can trip. And not a single kid out of the hundreds surrounding getting bored and throwing one ball into it. That bit amazes me the most.