- sustainable / openhardware electronics
- "homemade" electronic components (logic gates, resistors, etc.)(CC @North)
Basically if society would end tomorrow, how could we re-build our current technology without making the same mistakes ?
I think about sustainably living with nature in this scenario while also having electric power and e.g. computers.
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#electronics #sustainable
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@werdahias This is a really interesting question and it's something that I think about all the time, possibly more than is healthy.
I think there's potential value in the thought experiment of starting from scratch and trying to get to the information age in a different way (now that we know one way)
That said, it depends what you mean by "if society would end tomorrow." I've heard this framing used in several different ways.
- If society literally ended tomorrow then the most important tech would be repaired/adapted stuff in the style of Cuban DIY culture.
- If this is shorthand for some kind of Solarpunk utopian thought experiment (wherein you assume any necessary industry exists and is accessible) then I don't think the technology actually has to change that much.
- If the goal is to develop technologies that are comparable to the status quo but disconnected from existing supply chains, exploitative business practices, etc. in an effort to build dual power by offering an alternative technology tree then you need to basically invent groundbreaking new technologies from scratch.
- If you want to make a Save File for industrialization, like a plan to re-industrialize from scratch, I would question the value of such a thing on its own.
@werdahias You might also be interested in researching the birth of the Japanese semiconductor industry, something that @matthewvenn put me onto. They were extremely scrappy in the beginning, working from improvised equipment and notes taken during tours of US semi manufacturers.
@werdahias @North I would also consider indoor plumbing in this technology discussion. Bringing water (and poop) into living spaces was maybe a mistake we should avoid if we do a round two. :-)
@werdahias @North go check out sam zeloof . dude started first making his own transistors then later opamps in his garage.
with a projection setup made from some microscope and a common projector.
no idea what he's up to today.
have fun.
@werdahias @North You need a pretty enormous technology base to produce even the most basic integrated circuits. You'd probably be better off learning how to create vacuum tubes/valves. Unfortunately, a lot of that would be rediscovering techniques that have been lost over the decades.
I could have sworn I'd seen a different youtuber's videos abut creating silicon chips, but this was all I could find: https://www.youtube.com/@SamZeloof/videos
@werdahias @North It was a while ago but Jeri Ellsworth did some fun DIY semiconductors: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5DCEA197C1C07A2D
@werdahias @North Have you come across this account? @permacomputer
@werdahias @North if you had to rebuild computers from scratch, it would be possible to build a relay computer. It would not be fast, it would take a lot of resources, and it would require a lot of power, but once you can smelt metal and draw wire from scratch then that's what you can build.