It took 2 years to build this functioning word processor in Minecraft

[mouser]

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.com/geek/word-processor-built-in-minecraft/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_ULtNYRCbg

[KynloStephen66515]

But.......why?

[Deozaan]

Crazy!

[skwire]

But.......why?

Uhhh, why the hell not? 

[KynloStephen66515]

But.......why?

Uhhh, why the hell not? 

Touché

[40hz]

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]

But.......why?

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!

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

[TaoPhoenix]

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]

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!!

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]

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzrFzkb3A4o

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

[40hz]

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

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]

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]

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

That is this thread.

[40hz]

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

That is this thread.

Wheels within wheels I would think. 

Like the definition of recursion that reads: See recursion.

[TaoPhoenix]

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!!

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.

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]

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

That is this thread.

Dang clipboard managers!  I really meant this one. 

[tomos]

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

That is this thread.

Dang clipboard managers!  I really meant this one. 

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

[40hz]

^Me too!

[TaoPhoenix]

^Me too!

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

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

And you wonder why conspiracies work?

[40hz]

And you wonder why conspiracies work?

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]