Computers Are Still Bound By The Laws of Physics

As powerful as computers are, it’s easy to forget that they’re still physical objects¹ and are bound by the laws of physics as a result. In this post, I want to track a bunch of instances where physics causes a lot of interesting computer bugs.

• Single-event upsets. Basically when cosmic rays mess with computer circutry in a subtle way albeit non-permanant way. May cause plane accidents, rigged elections and faster speedruns.
• Janet Jackson crashed computers. She had some truly powerful music which reached the resonant frequency of some laptop hard drives causing them to crash. You can scream at them too [VIDEO: 2:00]
• The 500 mile email.