4

Computers are ubiquitous in Star Wars. Are they quantum-level in terms of complexity?

The Giant of Lannister
  • 3,276
  • 2
  • 21
  • 35
Max
  • 123
  • 4
  • 1
    Why assume that quantum computing is the in-universe end point of computer technology? Look for some evidence, document what you can, and then ask if someone else has more information. – rosesunhill Mar 25 '16 at 16:36
  • 1
    The laws of physics are perhaps different in the Star Wars universe than in our own (for example, there's sound in space) so we can't be sure quantum physics would work the same or allow for faster computations. Although in The Force Awakens when Finn first returned to the Star Destroyer, I thought I did here them say some bit of technobabble about "quantum" something over the PA system in the hanger. – Hypnosifl Mar 25 '16 at 16:41
  • 1
    Hi, I have edited your question to remove the comments about assuming the computers are quantum. I think it is an ok question, but this is a better way of phrasing it maybe. – The Giant of Lannister Mar 25 '16 at 16:48
  • Computers are absent in Star Wars. They have droids, but everything else is buttons and levers. Where do you see computers? – Daniel Roseman Mar 25 '16 at 17:07
  • 5
    @Daniel Roseman - "Luke, you switched off your targeting computer. What's wrong?" Other lines from the New Hope script here include "the Death Star plans are not in the main computer" and "It'll take a few moments to get the coordinates from the navi-computer." – Hypnosifl Mar 25 '16 at 17:34
  • I doubt if the computers in star wars are very sophisticated. For instance, C3P0 and R2-D2 communicated by audio instead of wireless. Even older cell phones in real life have bluetooth. There is no email or 'internet', or else they would have been to transfer the plans to the death star digitally instead of inside a droid. – Dan Shaffer Mar 25 '16 at 18:10
  • re: lack of email or internet. see Why does R2-D2 need to be delivered to the rebels? – phantom42 Mar 25 '16 at 18:30
  • Is sound communication between computers not advanced? http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/12/scientist-developed-malware-covertly-jumps-air-gaps-using-inaudible-sound/ – Adamant Mar 25 '16 at 20:55
  • 2
    Considering the time it takes to calculate a jump to light speed, probably not. –  Mar 25 '16 at 21:28
  • 1
    The source material for Star Wars originated in the mid to late 1970s. So probably not. Like in the original Battlestar Galactica and other 1970s science-ficiton computers are very limited. Also compare 1960s and 1970s science fiction (say, Larry Niven) with with recent material. Science-fiction is always a reflection, certainly technologically, of the time it's created in. Old science-fiction is "energy" heavy, new science-fiction is "information" heavy. –  Mar 26 '16 at 12:47
  • Just based on looking at them, they're barely Quadra-level in terms of complexity. – Paul D. Waite Jun 28 '23 at 10:26

1 Answers1

2

Some computers and devices in Star Wars have used "quantum" as part of their description or design:

Canon

Legends

  • Quantum computer: appears in the Death Star novel in the context of cryptography:

    In addition to the best military wards and pyrowalls, the folder was also protected by a random number generated by a quantum computer, said number being forty-seven digits long. Moreover, the program would shift each digit one value lower or higher every six standard hours, and only somebody with the code to access the program running it could keep track of this shift—one had to know the date and hour the program generated the number in order to follow the sequence. It was a slow and unwieldy process, hardly suitable for files that needed to be accessed with any frequency, but workable for him.

    Death Star (2007), chapter 34; emphasis added

  • Quantum RAM: appears in the novella A Forest Apart as part of an advanced droid's specifications:

    [One-twenty?] the droid scoffed. [Don't insult me. My processor speed is fifty-point-three-two times faster than the one-twenty's.]

    [Then you must have the GwendoLyn Six,] Chewbacca said.

    [That's right,] the droid said proudly. [Tachyon processing bands, quantum RAM, biocell storage.]

    A Forest Apart, printed in Tatooine Ghost, page 446; emphasis added

Overall, it seems like quantum computers do exist in Star Wars, but tend to be used for specialized purposes, implying that most computers aren't quantum in design.

Milo P
  • 26,616
  • 8
  • 122
  • 185