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Making Money Flow: The MONIAC

Reserve Bank of New Zealand1 HN recommenders · 2020–2022
120K views · demo · evergreen · Uploaded 2017-08-10

A short demonstration of the MONIAC, Bill Phillips' hydro-mechanical economic computer, at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand museum. It shows how water flows model an economy's money flows.

Brought up as a charming example of analog and liquid computers simulating a national economy.

Microeconomics & behavioral economicsHistory of computingMechanical & precision engineering

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5 comments from Hacker News

@basicplus22020 · in “The Vintage Beauty of Soviet Control Rooms (2018)”

And of course its always worth mentioning the MONIAC.. (Monetary National Income Analogue Computer) also known as the Phillips Hydraulic Computer [LINK] [VIDEO]

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@copperwater692022 · in “A brief history of liquid computers (2019)”

There was a neat liquid computer called the MONIAC used to model the national economic processes of the UK. Here's a video: [VIDEO] Edit: Oh it was mentioned in the paper!

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@pseudolus2022 · in “Physicists are building neural networks out of vibrations, voltages and lasers”

I believe one of the earliest applications incorporating this line of thought was MONIAC, the Monetary National Income Analogue Computer, which used water levels to model the economy [0]. There's a short youtube documentary on its history and operation. [1] [0] [LINK] [1] [VIDEO] [VIDEO] (shows operation of MONIAC)

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@Nition2022 · in “Show HN: A central bank simulator game with a realistic economic model”

This is exactly why MONIAC[0][1] was created in 1949. Not a real computer exactly - it simulates the entire system with water flow. [0] [LINK] [1] [VIDEO]

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@robocat2022 · in “Quantum winter is coming”

Here’s an analogue computer called the MONIAC from ~1949 that calculates monetary flow in an economy: [LINK] with a fairly naff video of it operating but captures the essence: [VIDEO] I like the COMPAQ branding added to it!

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