A Grain Of Rice / The World's Smallest Computer

Submission 7,200

About

A Grain Of Rice / The World's Smallest Computer is an image macro of the world's smallest computer made by researchers at the University of Michigan in 2018 compared to a grain of rice. The image resurfaced on Reddit in 2020 and became an exploitable, object-labeling meme which typically adds a third object smaller than the computer and grain of rice.

Origin

On June 21st, 2018, the University of Michigan announced that researchers have created the world's smallest computer and published an image of the computer next to a grain of rice. Michigan News^[1] explained that "Designed as a precision temperature sensor, the new device converts temperatures into time intervals, defined with electronic pulses." The study was presented that day at the 2018 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits. Vice^[2] published another article on the study that month.

Spread

On February 21st, 2020, Redditor raj_j_m posted the image with labels to r/nextfuckinglevel^[4] and received over 5,600 points (98% upvoted) in three months (shown below, left). The next day, Redditor Cucubauu uploaded and edited variation of the image including a small eggplant emoji with the label "your dick" to r/dankmemes^[5] which accumulated over 24,100 points (93% upvoted) in three months (shown below, right).

On May 25th, Redditor Nic0487 posted another variation which included a small close button labeled "close ad" to r/funny.^[6] The image gained over 4,800 points (94% upvoted) in a day. StayHipp^[3] published an article covering the world's smallest computer memes.