Author Topic: It took 2 years to build this functioning word processor in Minecraft (Read 20522 times)

mouser · « **on:** January 10, 2015, 12:26 AM »

Pretty damn amazing:

A Minecraft builder has created a word processor, complete with keyboard and monitor, entirely in the game. And it isn't just for show. The build mechanically functions when keys are pressed, and can load files from memory. It has taken almost two years to build, and the builder plans to expand it into a full-on, working computer.

http://www.dailydot....-built-in-minecraft/

KynloStephen66515 · « **Reply #1 on:** January 10, 2015, 01:44 AM »

But.......why?

Deozaan · « **Reply #2 on:** January 10, 2015, 01:44 AM »

Crazy!

skwire · « **Reply #3 on:** January 10, 2015, 03:31 AM »

But.......why?
-Stephen66515 (January 10, 2015, 01:44 AM)

Uhhh, why the hell not?

KynloStephen66515 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 10, 2015, 03:51 AM »

But.......why?
-Stephen66515 (January 10, 2015, 01:44 AM)

Uhhh, why the hell not?
-skwire (January 10, 2015, 03:31 AM)

Touché

40hz · « **Reply #5 on:** January 10, 2015, 08:32 AM »

One has to admire the obsession and dedication to the art of building something "because I can." I'd put this right up there with with the miniaturist who built a dollhouse with a playroom that contained a miniature version of itself accurate to the smallest detail. And within that second dollhouse's playroom was an even tinier (of necessity less detailed - but still easily recognizable) version of itself. Talk about turtles all the way down!

Note: IIRC there was one old-time and very popular DOS adventure game that had a fully functioning wordprocessor built in. Push a button and you could type a memo if you wanted to. But that was more a "the boss is coming" feature. Anybody remember what that game was?

wraith808 · « **Reply #6 on:** January 10, 2015, 10:18 AM »

But.......why?
-Stephen66515 (January 10, 2015, 01:44 AM)

People get entertainment from a variety of things. So I don't think- not being that person- that the first question should be 'Why?' as is the norm these days.

One has to admire the obsession and dedication to the art of building something "because I can." I'd put this right up there with with the miniaturist who built a dollhouse with a playroom that contained a miniature version of itself accurate to the smallest detail. And within that second dollhouse's playroom was an even tinier (of necessity less detailed - but still easily recognizable) version of itself. Talk about turtles all the way down!
-40hz (January 10, 2015, 08:32 AM)

This is a more admirable response when the motivation is not shared, in my opinion.

TaoPhoenix · « **Reply #7 on:** January 10, 2015, 02:00 PM »

I'm gonna go even broader and call it "the power of 'just because I can' " .

At its peak is the fundamental clash that created the renaissance!! The cutting edge news of 1515 (to be funny about an arbitrary date) was that people were starting to get annoyed/tired of quoting Aristotle for millenia. People just did experiments "just to do stuff". And often enough for it all to be worthwhile, "pure research" does drive tech. A lot of overly efficient "applied science" promoters try to "take shortcuts" by milking dry the lowest hanging results, leaving someone else stuck with the hard ones after they made their easy money, usually with a little smoke and misdirection thrown in.

Our sense of humor is why we put little funny spins on our pure research. So yes, why not a word processor in Minecraft? It's a subset of "functionality in a limited system".

Also, there are levels of projects you can just dabble at for a week and put away. It doesn't require a full onslaught to be interesting. For example, in Russia in parts of the 1800's, French was actually the aristocratic language. So I once bought five different translations of War and Peace to check how the English translator handled actual French phrases in the original.

40hz · « **Reply #8 on:** January 10, 2015, 02:11 PM »

I'm gonna go even broader and call it "the power of 'just because I can' " .

At its peak is the fundamental clash that created the renaissance!!

-TaoPhoenix (January 10, 2015, 02:00 PM)

And, unchecked by any notion of humility or morality, also brought the human race an untold deal of pain and misery.

That's why I'm always somewhat grateful whenever I see somebody channelling their obsessions into a benign artistic endeavour.

Especially when you consider how the person who has the drive (and gluteal stamina) to program an entire working computer into a computer game - or build a miniature dollhouse within a miniature dollhouse, within a dollhouse - is surely capable of doing ever so much else besides.

tomos · « **Reply #9 on:** January 10, 2015, 02:14 PM »

They give a link there at the end to a 16bit computer:

also interesting for someone like me who has never spared much thought about how computers work

40hz · « **Reply #10 on:** January 10, 2015, 02:19 PM »

also interesting for someone like me who has never spared much thought about how computers work

-tomos (January 10, 2015, 02:14 PM)

It is pretty amazing once you get into it. They don't actually work like most people think they do. The computing theory and machine architecture (601: Finite and Infinite-State Machines) course I took in college was probably the most fascinating (to me) thing I ever learned about while there. Far more interesting and intellectually pleasing than anything I learned about afterwards to make them actually do something "useful."

x16wda · « **Reply #11 on:** January 10, 2015, 05:05 PM »

Shouldn't there be a link to this in this thread?

It's all just puzzles, putting the pieces you have together somehow to make it do what you want...

Deozaan · « **Reply #12 on:** January 10, 2015, 05:44 PM »

Shouldn't there be a link to this in this thread?
-x16wda (January 10, 2015, 05:05 PM)

That is this thread.

40hz · « **Reply #13 on:** January 10, 2015, 07:13 PM »

Shouldn't there be a link to this in this thread?
-x16wda (January 10, 2015, 05:05 PM)

That is this thread.
-Deozaan (January 10, 2015, 05:44 PM)

Wheels within wheels I would think.

Like the definition of recursion that reads: See recursion.

TaoPhoenix · « **Reply #14 on:** January 10, 2015, 07:26 PM »

I'm gonna go even broader and call it "the power of 'just because I can' " .

At its peak is the fundamental clash that created the renaissance!!

-TaoPhoenix (January 10, 2015, 02:00 PM)

And, unchecked by any notion of humility or morality, also brought the human race an untold deal of pain and misery.

That's why I'm always somewhat grateful whenever I see somebody channelling their obsessions into a benign artistic endeavour.

Especially when you consider how the person who has the drive (and gluteal stamina) to program an entire working computer into a computer game - or build a miniature dollhouse within a miniature dollhouse, within a dollhouse - is surely capable of doing ever so much else besides.

-40hz (January 10, 2015, 02:11 PM)

I see story material everywhere - it's like a genie offered him salvation. "Look. Your fate was destined for you to make a bomb with its own AI. Let's not do that. How about you play with Minecraft instead, and 4000 people get to keep their lives. Deal?"

x16wda · « **Reply #15 on:** January 10, 2015, 08:57 PM »

Shouldn't there be a link to this in this thread?
-x16wda (January 10, 2015, 05:05 PM)

That is this thread.
-Deozaan (January 10, 2015, 05:44 PM)

Dang clipboard managers! I really meant this one.

tomos · « **Reply #16 on:** January 11, 2015, 08:15 AM »

Shouldn't there be a link to this in this thread?
-x16wda (January 10, 2015, 05:05 PM)

That is this thread.
-Deozaan (January 10, 2015, 05:44 PM)

Dang clipboard managers! I really meant this one.
-x16wda (January 10, 2015, 08:57 PM)

hah, I thought you being extra smart in some way I hadn't quite figured out

40hz · « **Reply #17 on:** January 11, 2015, 12:50 PM »

^Me too!

TaoPhoenix · « **Reply #18 on:** January 11, 2015, 01:35 PM »

^Me too!
-40hz (January 11, 2015, 12:50 PM)

hah, I thought you being extra smart in some way I hadn't quite figured out
-tomos (January 11, 2015, 08:15 AM)

So ... he said it was a mistake ... and you *believed him*?

And you wonder why conspiracies work?

40hz · « **Reply #19 on:** January 11, 2015, 01:38 PM »

And you wonder why conspiracies work?
-TaoPhoenix (January 11, 2015, 01:35 PM)

LOL! Actually...I don't wonder at all.

Conspiracies are the deus ex machina of the web. And pretty much the go-to argument for anybody with an axe to grind or an agenda to advance these days. Without ever proving anything, they can say sooooo much!

KynloStephen66515 · « **Reply #20 on:** January 11, 2015, 01:58 PM »