Computing: the real magic of silicon switches
From relays to 0.7 nm transistors: how silicon switches changed the world. An analysis of the technical marvel of computing and its limits.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Computing: the everyday miracle of governing electrons
Think about it: hundreds of billions of microscopic switches governing an electrical circuit where binary code (0 and 1) encodes numbers, letters, images and complex operations. All compressed onto a silicon wafer smaller than a fingernail. Computing is, without exaggeration, one of the most awe-inspiring technical antiestéticats of humanity. Yet, as some analyses point out, we still use it for things as mundane as wiping our backsides with paper.
From relays to 0.7-nanometer transistors
The evolution is dizzying. The first electromechanical computers of the 1930s used relays – rudimentary switches – to direct the flow of data. Today, IBM has built a transistor smaller than a nanometer (0.7 nm), a scale that defies classical physics. The comparison is staggering: what once filled a room now fits on a chip that fits on a fingertip. And everything keeps shrinking, although physical limits are beginning to loom.
The Dutch monopoly nobody expected
A detail few people know: the machinery for manufacturing these microchips is controlled almost exclusively by the Dutch. Not the Japanese, not the Koreans, not the Taiwanese. ASML, with its extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, has a de facto monopoly. Without that technology, there would be no 7 nm, 5 nm or future 2 nm chips. The paradox is that a small country dominates the critical link in the global semiconductor chain.
Boolean operations: the hidden language
Behind this whole marvel lie Boolean operations – the algebra of logic – which with simple AND, OR and NOT gates perform calculations that would make any 19th-century mathematician pale. As a recurring quote puts it: we engrave geometric patterns onto a stone (silicon) and the stone responds to incantations in a language no human has ever spoken. It is not witchcraft, it is engineering. But the result seems magical.
The real marvel may not be the technology itself, but how quickly we have normalized it. In a few years, when quantum or neuromorphic chips take over, we will look back and find it incredible that these silicon switches were the origin of it all. With caveats: the growing complexity means that more and more people – and governments – depend on a handful of companies and countries. The Dutch monopoly is just the tip of the iceberg.
Think about it: hundreds of billions of microscopic switches governing an electrical circuit where binary code (0 and 1) encodes numbers, letters, images and complex operations. All compressed onto a silicon wafer smaller than a fingernail. Computing is, without exaggeration, one of the most awe-inspiring technical antiestéticats of humanity. Yet, as some analyses point out, we still use it for things as mundane as wiping our backsides with paper.
From relays to 0.7-nanometer transistors
The evolution is dizzying. The first electromechanical computers of the 1930s used relays – rudimentary switches – to direct the flow of data. Today, IBM has built a transistor smaller than a nanometer (0.7 nm), a scale that defies classical physics. The comparison is staggering: what once filled a room now fits on a chip that fits on a fingertip. And everything keeps shrinking, although physical limits are beginning to loom.
The Dutch monopoly nobody expected
A detail few people know: the machinery for manufacturing these microchips is controlled almost exclusively by the Dutch. Not the Japanese, not the Koreans, not the Taiwanese. ASML, with its extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, has a de facto monopoly. Without that technology, there would be no 7 nm, 5 nm or future 2 nm chips. The paradox is that a small country dominates the critical link in the global semiconductor chain.
Boolean operations: the hidden language
Behind this whole marvel lie Boolean operations – the algebra of logic – which with simple AND, OR and NOT gates perform calculations that would make any 19th-century mathematician pale. As a recurring quote puts it: we engrave geometric patterns onto a stone (silicon) and the stone responds to incantations in a language no human has ever spoken. It is not witchcraft, it is engineering. But the result seems magical.
The real marvel may not be the technology itself, but how quickly we have normalized it. In a few years, when quantum or neuromorphic chips take over, we will look back and find it incredible that these silicon switches were the origin of it all. With caveats: the growing complexity means that more and more people – and governments – depend on a handful of companies and countries. The Dutch monopoly is just the tip of the iceberg.
Also available in: Deutsch
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (53 replies).
More summaries
-
Colonial Mixing Wasn't Just Spanish: Anglo, French, and Dutch Roots
90% of African Americans have European ancestry, and 101,657 Anglo-Indian families existed in 1911. Colonial mixing was not a Spanish monopoly.
-
ETA and GAL: two arms of the same Gladio network in Spain
Investigation linking ETA and GAL as arms of the same NATO Gladio network, with drug trafficking funding and CIA control.
-
The Judaicus tax: how Rome punished the Jews
Rome did not hate the Jews: it taxed them for being Jewish. Domitian, Nerva and Septimius Severus used taxation to control a minority.
-
The Iberians: matriarchy or just a myth of sanctioned infidelity?
Were the Iberians of ancient Spain a matriarchy with agreed-upon infidelities? The debate over women's role and sexuality in this pre-Roman society pits archaeologists against each other.
-
Persistence hunting: Paleolithic reality or myth?
Persistence hunting has only been documented with kudus, at midday and at a fast walk. The scientific debate remains open.
-
Spain: how 'Vascongadas' became a political battleground
The term 'Vascongadas' derives from 'vasconizado' and has been documented since ancient times, but its current use works more as a political marker than as a historical fact.