https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Luxaexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2026-04-17T10:22:25ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1223:_Dwarf_Fortress&diff=402231223: Dwarf Fortress2013-06-10T16:44:50Z<p>Luxa: </p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1223<br />
| date = June 10, 2013<br />
| title = Dwarf Fortress<br />
| image = dwarf_fortress.png<br />
| titletext = I may be the kind of person who wastes a year implementing a Turing-complete computer in Dwarf Fortress, but that makes you the kind of person who wastes ten more getting that computer to run Minecraft.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete}}<br />
This comic is a reaction to the recent reveal of a U.S. electronic telecom surveillance program called {{w|PRISM (surveillance program)|PRISM}}, run by the NSA. (You can read a [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data Guardian article] about it.) PRISM, leaked by a former NSA official, incited some controversy since it provides government access to private data (e-mails, videos, chats, file transfers, etc.). <!-- please expand/correct this ~Alpha --><br />
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''{{w|Dwarf Fortress}}'' is a freeware strategy game in which the player builds a civilization by giving orders to, but not totally controlling a group of dwarves. It is famous for having a very detailed simulation of its world and for allowing deep micro-management. Cueball compares the omniscience of a ''Dwarf Fortress'' player to government surveillance. <br />
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"Big Brother" means "a tyrannical government body that constantly monitors all its citizens." The term comes from the classic dystopian novel ''{{w|Nineteen Eighty-Four}}'' by George Orwell.<br />
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''{{w|Turing Machine}}'' is a theoretical device that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules. Despite its simplicity, a Turing machine can be adapted to simulate the logic of any computer algorithm, and is particularly useful in explaining the functions of a CPU inside a computer. A '''Turing-complete machine''' is any machine which can be proven to be able to simulate a Turing machine and therefore any computer algorithm - doing the proving this way is much easier than proving it can run anything directly. (Note: A PC by itself is not a Turing-complete machine because its memory is limited. Any machine built in Dwarf Fortress would still run inside that PC [would it?] and therefore be even more limited. But you CAN build a proof-of-concept machine by building a limited one and showing how to extend its memory.)<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball at a computer.]<br />
:Cueball: If the corporate surveillance state monitors and controls every aspect of my life...<br />
:Big Brother: We do.<br />
:Cueball: And I play Dwarf Fortress all day...<br />
:Big Brother: You do.<br />
:Cueball: Then you're effectively Dwarf Fortress players watching your dwarves play Dwarf Fortress.<br />
:Big Brother: ...Oh god.<br />
:Big Brother realizes he's trapped in the most tedious possible hell.<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Computers]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Video games]]<br />
[[Category:Politics]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]</div>Luxa