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CoolHand writes:

https://www.fastcodesign.com/3066516/the-fundamentals-of-computer-science-explained-through-scattered-sand

Scattering grains of sand across a stone is one of the oldest and most primitive computing methods there is. Called geomancy, it is a divination technique that has been used for over a 1,000 years to try to predict the future by running simple algorithms on the accidental patterns the stones formed.

[...] Each grain represents a single bit of binary data—a one, not a zero—-and the machine's goal is to position as many grains of sand into its platter of memory as possible. It does so with a tiny suction cup positioned on the end of a robot arm, which moves according to a ruleset varient of Langton's ant, a simple two-dimensional Turing Machine that proves many of computer science's general laws.

The end goal of the Random Access Memory machine is to fit as many grains of sand onto its rotating platter as possible. That would seemingly be easy, but the machine needs to explore its function by its own internal ruleset, only placing a sand down if other pre-existing conditions are true: another grain of sand, for example, not being positioned directly to the left of it. And because its "data" is physical grains of sand, the machine is prone to errors, like "bits" bouncing, or being accidentally shifted. That means that the Random Access Memory machine could well keep working forever, without solving its problem.

Videos from linked article:
https://vimeo.com/194330889
https://vimeo.com/194136714

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