# Built to last: Mechanical or Electrical?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/built-to-last-mechanical-or-electrical/438769>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 22, 2008, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/built-to-last-mechanical-or-electrical/438769 "2008-02-22T21:07:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/built-to-last-mechanical-or-electrical/438769/21 "2008-02-25T19:59:59Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=naita]  
What do you want the machine to do?  
[/QUOTE]  
It doesn’t DO anything. That’s the beauty of it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/built-to-last-mechanical-or-electrical/438769/22 "2008-02-25T20:36:49Z")

</div>

My original thought was something like a clock - sophisticated, but not so complex as to be impossible. I really think that most of the devices in science fiction stories would never be reliable over the long term. Think about the MTBF for a personal computer, and then extrapolate it to a “suspended animation” type device. I just don’t think that a hugely complicated piece of electronic equipment could last centuries, unless you have robots with AI that could fix it and themselves…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/built-to-last-mechanical-or-electrical/438769/23 "2008-02-25T20:39:24Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=beowulff]  
My original thought was something like a clock - sophisticated, but not so complex as to be impossible. I really think that most of the devices in science fiction stories would never be reliable over the long term. Think about the MTBF for a personal computer, and then extrapolate it to a “suspended animation” type device. I just don’t think that a hugely complicated piece of electronic equipment could last centuries, unless you have robots with AI that could fix it and themselves…  
[/QUOTE]

The robots would have to be able to fix themselves as well, since they shouldn’t last any longer then the machines they are repairing.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/built-to-last-mechanical-or-electrical/438769.md?page=1)