First post, by EdmondDantes
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So recently I watched this anime called Stein's Gate, which incorporates the modern legend of John Titor into it.
For those who don't know (you know, like that mom of yours who is secretly reading over your shoulder) John Titor was this forum poster who claimed to be a time traveller. He apparently managed to convince a lot of people so I guess he told a damn good story.
One part of his story is he went back in time to get an IBM 5100. In the anime "Stein's Gate" he claims to need it specifically because the IBM 5100 can decode some sort of source code that no other computer can.
Okay, I'm gonna be dumb and nitpick an anime that already had a ton of logic issues and plot holes and probably wasn't meant to be thought deeply about, but....
I've been wondering how well this concept holds up, because... I mean, old computers would've used assembly code, right? Basically just one step removed from ones and zeroes? Like, what could the IBM 5100 do that you couldn't do with, say, an old monochrome laptop, or even a modern PC?
It just seems weird that there would be any type of code that could only be interpreted by a very specific machine. Even game consoles are still programmed with standard languages like C.
But if anyone is willing to indulge my curiosity, I'd love to hear if this particular concept at all holds up, or really learn anything at all about the IBM 5100.
Thanks in advance.