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I heard about the guy who made a (seemingly)turing complete computer in DF. Is this serious or is it a hoax?

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The Dwarven Computer s real, as can be seen in this post on the Dwarf Fortress forums, which includes a detailed analasys and a link to the actual save file on the Dwarf Fortress Map Archive where you can preview the map yourself.

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I haven't looked at it in depth, but it is certainly possible - there are other similar examples such as creating a turing machine in Conway's Game of Life: http://rendell-attic.org/gol/tm.htm

There are enough mechanisms in DF such as switches with open and closed doors, pumping water and holding it in places etc. for it to be plausible.

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  • There is also that video of someone making a calculator in LittleBig Planet using ropes and pulleys.
    – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft
    Aug 13, 2010 at 20:57
  • True. I know that the game of life is Turing complete. Interesting aside, Nash proposed that a Universal Constructor needed 17 states. Conway came up with the game of life in order to show that it could be done with 2.
    – Ritwik Bose
    Feb 13, 2012 at 21:40

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