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1

I am true and a liar,
You can’t touch me,
But you do use me,
I work when off or on,
Which most rely upon,
Without me, there would be,
no processes to see.

What am I?

share|improve this question
    
I will add a hint if anybody asks for one. No cheap tricks here. – cbronson 5 hours ago
    
If you can put a (hidden) hint in the title, you can get rid of the generic & bland "this is a riddle" title and possibly get a cooler title. :) – Anton 5 hours ago
    
Anton - Good idea! But now that you pointed that out it may give it away lol – cbronson 5 hours ago
up vote 6 down vote accepted

You are a:

Binary value/flag

I am true and a liar,

True and false (1/0)

You can’t touch me,

You cannot touch electronic data

But you do use me, I work when off or on,

Binary values are used as both true and false

Which most rely upon, Without me, there would be, no processes to see.

0's and 1's (binary values) are used as machine code to run all computer software.

share|improve this answer
    
You got it! Hopefully it wasn't too easy :) – cbronson 4 hours ago
    
I hadn't refreshed and didn't realize that Reti had this, partially - oops. – Khale_Kitha 4 hours ago
    
You can go ahead and move the mark to Reti's since he apparently had it while I was typing this. I don't care. – Khale_Kitha 4 hours ago
up vote 5 down vote

You are a

transistor switch.

I am true and a liar

Binary has two states, which as boolean are true and false.

You can’t touch me

Not a convincing answer, but the swithes we use for computers are too small for us to practically touch.

But you do use me

Computers rely on them and we use those every day.

I work when off or on

No matter its state, it contributes to something.

Which most rely upon

Same comment from above how we use computers for everything.

Without me, there would be, no processes to see.

Another unconvincing answer. Without them, computers wouldn't work and no programs/processes would run. However, we could always substitute them for something else.

Title hint

If the title includes a hint on its own, it could be referring to binary, which is the computer language. Kind of. Boy, this answer started off well and took a dive.

share|improve this answer
    
You got the answer but it's not the answer you wrote. – cbronson 4 hours ago
    
@Reti43 I have a hunch it is the first clue he is referring to – Gordon Allocman 4 hours ago
up vote 3 down vote

I think it is:

Light

I am true and a liar,

Acts as both a particle and a wave

You can’t touch me, But you do use me,

Can't touch it, but need it to see

I work when off or on,

Not sure

Which most rely upon,

Everyone but the blind need light to get through the day

Without me, there would be, no processes to see.

Without light, we could not see anything

share|improve this answer
    
Good guess! But not quite it. The answer will fit all of the lines of the riddle. Like you mentioned, light doesn't work when off. ;) – cbronson 5 hours ago

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