The Inca May Have Invented the World's First Computer System -- 600 Years Ago

Popular Mechanics ^ | March 26, 2026 | Elizabeth Rayne

[SunkenCiv]

Here's what you'll learn when you read this story:

The Inca quipu was a complex system of knotted cords, encoded numerical records and possibly even a full logosyllabic language.

New research demonstrates that the quipu's hierarchical structure can function as a versatile modern computer data structure.

The researchers built working spreadsheets, file systems, and encryption tools powered by quipu data, rivaling conventional computing methods.

[xp38]

What is going on there is an early application of the blue screen of death.

[Falcon4.0]

Indeed.
Didn't the Chinese invent the Abacus over a thousand years ago?

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

IBM = INCA BUSINESS MACHINE

ROFL!!!

[brookwood]

“Didn’t read the source but I’m gonna guess that a people who didn’t discover / invent the wheel didn’t invent a “computer””
If they had a written language we would be able to learn a lot more about this. Also iron and bronze would have helped their development, that was about 4,000 BC in what is now Iraq.

[dfwgator]

"...(which is why the metric system can't get rid of the 60-minute hour and the 60-second minute)...." ...as well as why there are 12 hours in each half-day (and 24 hours in a whole one).

The Metric Leisure Week

[I-ambush]

Scholars have wondered why Incan productivity and construction of architectural marvels abruptly fell. The decline of the Incan empire can now be traced to development of the interknot and later, the whirled wide web.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Now we know why the Inca Empire fell. They were too busy scrolling on social media to defend against the Conquistadors.

[dfwgator]

[Sacajaweau]

There's a few of them on ebay...They're 2' x 2' plus any stand or feet.

That's one hell of a frisbee.

[Jonty30]

I presume once tied, it becomes a code.

[SunkenCiv]

😁

[GingisK]

How hard you pull on the string determines whether it is ROM or RAM.

[The Great RJ]

A simple counting system or perhaps an abacus like function seems plausible, but trying to interpret these cords as some kind of complex data base is a stretch. The Inca did not develop the wheel and had no written language.

[SunkenCiv]

They found the evidence buried under a big W.

[Salman]

It's a "computer system" the same way an abacus is a "computer system".

Chinese invented the abacus thousands of years earlier.

Romans independently invented the abacus (it's a Latin word you know) also more than 600 years ago.

[chud]

Fascinating, thank you.
Humans are smart, and inventive. I wonder how many times civilizations have risen and fallen on this planet...

[SunkenCiv]

The Chinese got the abacus from the Romans, the earliest known example was dug up in Greece.

[ek_hornbeck]

for years I lived with the Inca and Aztecs in Southern California— I’m pretty sure they didn’t invent anything. That’s my analysis from observation.

Inca not so much, unless there were a lot of Peruvians in your neighborhood. Aztecs, definitely. Their most noteworthy invention was a form of open heart surgery - unfortunately, none of the "patients" survived.

Come to think of it, Mexico has existed as an independent nation for over 200 years - centuries more if you count the colonial period, millenia more if you count the various Indian tribes. During that long time period, and despite a population of about 130 or 140 million today, Mexico's contribution to science, technology, and high culture has been precisely zero.

[ChronicMA]

there must be some culinary innovation we can give them credit for.

[ek_hornbeck]

Somehow, inventing nacho chips doesn’t really hold up in comparison to inventing AC generators, microprocessors, etc.