# UAPs and UFOs: Anyone have any estimates for the computer power the aliens might have if they exist?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uaps-and-ufos-anyone-have-any-estimates-for-the-computer-power-the-aliens-might-have-if-they-exist/960860
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 11, 2022, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uaps-and-ufos-anyone-have-any-estimates-for-the-computer-power-the-aliens-might-have-if-they-exist/960860 "2022-03-11T00:34:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ready29003](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ready29003)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2022, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uaps-and-ufos-anyone-have-any-estimates-for-the-computer-power-the-aliens-might-have-if-they-exist/960860/1 "2022-03-11T00:34:54Z")
Anyone have any estimates for the computer processing power an alien species might have on say a typical spacecraft. Assuming these aliens have advanced technologically at least 300 years beyond us?
For example, what level of encryption could their typical spacecraft computer break?
Bonus question: Why cryptocurrency has the most ridiculous level of encryption that it has the best chance to be alien proof?
thanks.
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### Author:  [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2022, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uaps-and-ufos-anyone-have-any-estimates-for-the-computer-power-the-aliens-might-have-if-they-exist/960860/2 "2022-03-11T00:40:42Z")
The following is shtick-
All crypto currency is a plot by aliens. They have computing power. They can access our internet. They created crypto currency so they could buy physical things. There will be no need for an invasion. They will simply buy the planet out from under us.
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### Author:  [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2022, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uaps-and-ufos-anyone-have-any-estimates-for-the-computer-power-the-aliens-might-have-if-they-exist/960860/3 "2022-03-11T00:42:32Z")
> [@ready29003](#):
>
> Anyone have any estimates for the computer processing power an alien species might have on say a typical spacecraft. Assuming these aliens have advanced technologically at least 300 years beyond us?
They probably have, like, 50 gigs or some shit, easy.
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### Author:  [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2022, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uaps-and-ufos-anyone-have-any-estimates-for-the-computer-power-the-aliens-might-have-if-they-exist/960860/4 "2022-03-11T01:24:19Z")
> [@ready29003](#):
>
> Anyone have any estimates for the computer processing power an alien species might have on say a typical spacecraft. Assuming these aliens have advanced technologically at least 300 years beyond us?
Whatever it is, [this documentary](https://youtu.be/BN6uPD5fPfU) suggests that it could be defeated by an Apple Powerbook 5300.
Seriously, there is no way to even guess at how alien computer technology would work or in any way quantitatively compare to current digital computing technology. An alien civilization may not even use discrete mathematics or any comparable system by which to make such a comparison. And anyone speculating on what human computing technology will look like in three centuries is just making a wild guess.
> [@DocCathode](#):
>
> All crypto currency is a plot by aliens. They have computing power. They can access our internet. They created crypto currency so they could buy physical things. There will be no need for an invasion. They will simply buy the planet out from under us.
Already been done:
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeAcikP5N7M)
Stranger
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2022, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uaps-and-ufos-anyone-have-any-estimates-for-the-computer-power-the-aliens-might-have-if-they-exist/960860/5 "2022-03-11T01:25:21Z")
> [@bobot](#):
>
> They probably have, like, 50 gigs or some shit, easy.
Don’t you mean, like, 50 gigs per 14" megaROM?
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### Author:  [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2022, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uaps-and-ufos-anyone-have-any-estimates-for-the-computer-power-the-aliens-might-have-if-they-exist/960860/6 "2022-03-11T01:29:25Z")
IIRC, we never find out who They are. They may be from another planet. They may be from another dimension. They may be from Earth and hidden all this time.
Back To The OP
The Outer Limits episode Heist (spoilers)
Reveals that the cargo in question is an organism that served as a UFO’s cooling system. The whole UFO was biological in nature- presumably engineered with advanced technology
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2022, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uaps-and-ufos-anyone-have-any-estimates-for-the-computer-power-the-aliens-might-have-if-they-exist/960860/7 "2022-03-11T02:03:37Z")
If they had something like a silicon based CPU, they might not be able to do much better than us in terms of miniaturizing the technology further. As I understand it, we’re already near the physical limits before the transistors are so close the signals start to bleed over into one another.
But, technically, the more CPUs that you have and the better an ability that you have to split problems out between them, the more data that you can process. The problem there is that you need a lot of power and a lot of heat dissipation.
If you can travel near or past the speed of light then it’s probably safe to say that you can generate so much energy and, as a side effect, cool so much material using that energy, that you could probably build and power any sized silicon computer that you could ever dream of. Really, it becomes more a question of how much value there is in increasing processing power past a certain point? If you can calculate any arbitrary NP Hard problem with an answer usable in a universe with the specific number of quarks that our universe has in a few seconds, do you really need a bigger computer?
At an upper bound, I think that we can safely say that it’s impossible to build a computer, using any technology, that can accurately simulate our own universe. After all, you have to represent every quark and photon as a series of variables - vector, spin, type, etc. You need some sort of physical entity to represent each of those - meaning that you need **multiple** physical objects in our universe to represent each **one** physical object in the universe.
And, likewise, that means that there’s an upper bound on any calculation that you could do. At some point, you’re competing with your own survival to collect the material for your supercomputer and power it. There is a limit to both of those in the universe and what you give to computer isn’t available for you.
Once you decide on a particular cubic footage and power level for your computers, such that you feel comfortable making multiple of them, you can calculate the theoretical upper limit of computation by taking how many measurable locations exist in that space and the amount of energy that you would need to spend to shift the most easily moved object that fits in that space about half the width of your cube.
I’d guess that Monero is the hardest to break.
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### Author:  [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2022, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uaps-and-ufos-anyone-have-any-estimates-for-the-computer-power-the-aliens-might-have-if-they-exist/960860/8 "2022-03-11T02:17:25Z")
> [@ready29003](#):
>
> For example, what level of encryption could their typical spacecraft computer break?
I like the answer from the novel **Live Free or Die** by John Ringo: their integrated AI infosphere doesn’t break our encryption so much as they don’t notice it. Our best efforts are the equivalent of a piece of clear glass in front of a window - completely transparent. The processing power required to run interstellar society, commerce and government is so astronomical (heh) that going through human encryption is laughably easy.
I provide a visual metaphor for just how overpowered I’d expect said hypothetical alien tech to be -
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLN3dPMyXeg)
Riiight at the :44 mark. - chuckle -
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2022, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uaps-and-ufos-anyone-have-any-estimates-for-the-computer-power-the-aliens-might-have-if-they-exist/960860/9 "2022-03-11T02:36:51Z")
And most Earthling encryption in current use would be so much tissue paper to a quantum computer. We know quantum computers can exist, and they work: We’re just slow to scale them up to a practical level. But for a civilization so far beyond us as to be traveling between the stars…
And that’s just an extrapolation that we know about. What clever tricks are there that have never even occurred to us? I’d bet good money that the aliens have at least a few of those, too.
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2022, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uaps-and-ufos-anyone-have-any-estimates-for-the-computer-power-the-aliens-might-have-if-they-exist/960860/10 "2022-03-11T03:03:46Z")
> [@ready29003](#):
>
> Anyone have any estimates for the computer processing power an alien species might have on say a typical spacecraft. Assuming these aliens have advanced technologically at least 300 years beyond us?
Except for possible quantum computing as others have mentioned (which has limited uses) I don’t expect aliens to have much more computing power than we do. I’d say that the difference between a 5 MHz 8088 and a [5 GHz modern chip](https://www.pcworld.com/article/563358/heres-why-the-5ghz-wars-are-back.html) would dwarf the difference between a 5 GHz modern chip and a Gleepnerg Inside® alien chip, for the same reason that the aliens aren’t going to have Mach 100 aircraft, ground cars that get 1,000 miles per gallon of gasoline, or terajoule laser pistols: material physics stretches only so far before becoming a mature technology that has reached its limit.
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### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2022, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uaps-and-ufos-anyone-have-any-estimates-for-the-computer-power-the-aliens-might-have-if-they-exist/960860/11 "2022-03-11T05:11:07Z")
There is a physical limit to how many calculations can be performed, according to articles like this it is at about 10^51 cps per kg. The actual limit I’m sure would be much lower for reliable, sustainable technology.
> **[Theoretical Limit Calculated for 'Ultimate PC'](https://www.science.org/content/article/theoretical-limit-calculated-ultimate-pc)**
>
> Unbeatably fast, yes, but it would need to be as dense as a black hole
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2022, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uaps-and-ufos-anyone-have-any-estimates-for-the-computer-power-the-aliens-might-have-if-they-exist/960860/12 "2022-03-11T06:27:51Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#):
>
> Whatever it is, [this documentary](https://youtu.be/BN6uPD5fPfU) suggests that it could be defeated by an Apple Powerbook 5300.
That’s because Apple OS is based off alien tech taken from the downed craft in Area 51! Duh.
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### Author:  [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2022, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uaps-and-ufos-anyone-have-any-estimates-for-the-computer-power-the-aliens-might-have-if-they-exist/960860/13 "2022-03-11T16:22:10Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> That’s because Apple OS is based off alien tech taken from the downed craft in Area 51! Duh.
In that case, based upon my experience with System 7, the computing power of an alien civilization would be virtually irrelevant as their operating system locks up twice a work-cycle.
Stranger
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2022, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uaps-and-ufos-anyone-have-any-estimates-for-the-computer-power-the-aliens-might-have-if-they-exist/960860/14 "2022-03-12T13:40:44Z")
Note–there is a theory that all of Reality,. including us, is a Virtual Reality program on a computer.
We are the Sims, if you will.
If, that is, you **have** a will of your own…
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### Author:  [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2022, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uaps-and-ufos-anyone-have-any-estimates-for-the-computer-power-the-aliens-might-have-if-they-exist/960860/15 "2022-03-12T16:29:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> What clever tricks are there that have never even occurred to us? I’d bet good money that the aliens have at least a few of those, too.
Quantum slide rules.
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### Author:  [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2022, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uaps-and-ufos-anyone-have-any-estimates-for-the-computer-power-the-aliens-might-have-if-they-exist/960860/16 "2022-03-12T17:28:29Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#):
>
> I’d say that the difference between a 5 MHz 8088 and a [5 GHz modern chip](https://www.pcworld.com/article/563358/heres-why-the-5ghz-wars-are-back.html) would dwarf the difference between a 5 GHz modern chip and a Gleepnerg Inside® alien chip, for the same reason that the aliens aren’t going to have Mach 100 aircraft, ground cars that get 1,000 miles per gallon of gasoline, or terajoule laser pistols: material physics stretches only so far before becoming a mature technology that has reached its limit.
A ground car (for instance) could get a lot more mileage out of a gallon of gasoline if half that gasoline were made of antimatter. This would also would allow the construction of a very powerful laser pistol or very fast aircraft. Of course the side effects of such technology would prove fatal to bystanders, or to the user; such high energy physics would emit gamma rays and vast amounts of waste heat, so it is not recommended.
Similarly, anything capable of processing at the atomic level as described by Seth Lloyd in his ‘Ultimate Laptop’ articles (mentioned by @Wesley_Clark) would fry anyone standing nearby.
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### Author:  [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2022, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uaps-and-ufos-anyone-have-any-estimates-for-the-computer-power-the-aliens-might-have-if-they-exist/960860/17 "2022-03-12T17:42:58Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#):
>
> Quantum slide rules.
That just means your measurement uncertainty is on log scales instead of linear. And then if Wigner’s friend is is using the slide rule…
Stranger
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2022, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uaps-and-ufos-anyone-have-any-estimates-for-the-computer-power-the-aliens-might-have-if-they-exist/960860/18 "2022-03-13T05:50:22Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> > [@bobot](#):
> >
> > They probably have, like, 50 gigs or some shit, easy.
>
> Don’t you mean, like, 50 gigs per 14" megaROM?
I think he means 50 gigabit encryption keys.
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### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2022, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uaps-and-ufos-anyone-have-any-estimates-for-the-computer-power-the-aliens-might-have-if-they-exist/960860/19 "2022-03-13T07:04:28Z")
The aliens have been using Mentats ever since the Zarbruxian Jihad.
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### Author:  [@ready29003](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ready29003)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2023, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uaps-and-ufos-anyone-have-any-estimates-for-the-computer-power-the-aliens-might-have-if-they-exist/960860/20 "2023-10-04T02:14:17Z")
Hey anyone want to update their estimates on alien computer capacity in a typical ship, mothership, wrist watch. Thanks!
David Grusch and some 30 whistleblowers have come forward to congress. Something is up.
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