Built to last: Mechanical or Electrical?

Factual Questions
21

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

22

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…

23

[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.