Gems instead of computer code for alien tech

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I had this really awesome idea. Imagine computer tech from an alien world that doesn't run on algorithms and code, but a combination of gemstones inlaid in the wall, various sizes, shapes, and geological makeups.

Instead of programmers, you have "jewellers" who set the stones in the wall and cut them into the right shapes for the "program".

 

[Unicron]

It sounds a bit like how some technology works in Star Wars, as lightsabers use crystals to focus the blades and the holocrons, though not gem based, are essentially crystalline storage matrices.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

They aren't storage mediums - okay, maybe some are, but various gems stand in for equations or symbols.

 

[mithril]

It sounds a bit like how some technology works in Star Wars, as lightsabers use crystals to focus the blades and the holocrons, though not gem based, are essentially crystalline storage matrices.

my first thought was Stargate and the Goa'uld crystal based technology (apparently derived from ancients tech, given it appears in the DHD's from both the milky way and pegasus galaxies. though the other ones seen in Atlantis look like off-brand isolinear chips, presumably a later refinement given the Asgard use something similar)
pretty much everyone in stargate uses crystal based computer tech, except earth. (who ended up combing copies of goauld crystals with normal silicon microprocessors.. and later added a mix of asgard and ancient type crystals as well.)

 

[fireproof78]

my first thought was Stargate and the Goa'uld crystal based technology (apparently derived from ancients tech, given it appears in the DHD's from both the milky way and pegasus galaxies. though the other ones seen in Atlantis look like off-brand isolinear chips, presumably a later refinement given the Asgard use something similar)
pretty much everyone in stargate uses crystal based computer tech, except earth. (who ended up combing copies of goauld crystals with normal silicon microprocessors.. and later added a mix of asgard and ancient type crystals as well.)

That was my first initial thought as well, and the way the Tok'Ra used preprogrammed crystals to create bases undergrounds, the crystal basically being able to expand in to the room using surrounding materials.

I've often thought that crystals could be useful if they could be preprogrammed to have certain "jobs" inside a computer, and allowing for circuits to be shaped in different ways from the crystal's structure.

 

[Unicron]

The Protoss in StarCraft, particularly in the first game, made extensive use of khaydarin crystals as a component in their technology, although their role seemed to be more for transferring and maintaining energy fields than storing data (though it's possible to speculate they could do both).

 

[Forbin]

Actually, my first thought was the crystal control tables inside the pylons on Land of the Lost.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0792272/mediaviewer/rm1977089025/?ref_=tt_md_2
https://marythekay.typepad.com/.a/6a0120a86d37ac970b015435452b15970c-popup

 

[137th Gebirg]

^^^ Was thinking that exact same thing too. And remember, it should be pronounced crys-TALS.

The Land of the Lost Wiki has a write-up about them.

 

[Ithekro]

Babylon 5 had small crystal data storage items. The Mimbari had more of this tech in their structures.

 

[publiusr]

There is a photo of Sheridan holding one.

I think that was supposed to be "bubble memory" of some kind.

https://babylon5.fandom.com/wiki/Data_crystal

A nightmare scenario would be for one found...with crystal worshippers praying over it....and/or a jeweler cutting it...an unknowing destruction of the Library of Alexandria..

 

[Forbin]

Babylon 5 had small crystal data storage items. The Mimbari had more of this tech in their structures.

Minbari, with an N.

 

[Ithekro]

It has been a while. I forgot about the "minibar war"

 

[publiusr]

The real thing
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/5D_optical_data_storage

 

[Jbob86]

80's era Kryptonians and a lot of Space:1999 aliens used a lot of crystal tech as well