The Unbeatable Game from the 60s: Dr NIM
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN links it as a fun explanation of the purely mechanical Dr. Nim game in threads about early game computers and marble-based binary math.
What it is
Matt Parker of Stand-up Maths explains single-pile Nim and the trick that wins it, using Dr NIM, a 1960s mechanical plastic computer that plays perfectly. He teaches the strategy so viewers can beat friends.
Recommended by 1 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2016 to 2023.
What Hacker News said
Recommends AndrewOMartin · 2023-07 · on “Play the Nimatron, the World’s First Video Game Invented in 1930s New York”
If this kind of thing amuses you can buy a purely mechanical implementation called either Braino or Dr. Nim for about £10. Here's a video on the subject from Matt Parker @ Standup Maths. [this video]
Cites brownbat · 2016-11 · on “4-bit calculator made from cardboard and marbles”
These remind me of Dr. Nim, the unbeatable single-player board game from the 60s, which also used marbles to do binary math: [this video]
Cites jerf · 2022-07 · on “Crimes against transhumanity”
"The new feudal aristocracy would be the ones running the demons." The question of ownership is huge and I think still underaddressed, even after some good work like the referenced Lena, or Tom Scott's "Welcome to Life: the singularity, ruined by lawyers" [LINK] . I was realizing a couple of weeks ago that if you do believe all the materialistic things cstross outlines, that a solid argument can be made that it may be never rational to upload your mind, on the ground that there is simply no circumstance I can imagine where you will "own" your own substrate. Arguably, owning your computational substrate is a fundamental aspect of life that we take for granted today. (Or, if you won't consider