We all like to think of our modern civilization as a tapestry of varying cultures, religions, morals, characters, personalities. All different colors and thicknesses of threads make up the tapestry – every thread as important as every other in making the civilization and society work harmoniously.
But let’s face it, even the best-made tapestry can came apart if the one “right” thread is pulled. Sometimes it can be hard to see, but it also can be right under your nose. And when you think about it, that may well be the case with this tapestry we call civilization today.
Have you given much thought to microchips and silicon wafers? Is it possible that these harmless little technological marvels could very well lead to the Apocalypse if they went away?
We know that computers have become an invaluable tool in many of our lives. But let’s think a little bit more about computers. Sure, we recognize them as desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones. And there are millions and millions of them around the world. And for many people, these computers are the lifeblood of our work and our lives. Some of us can’t write letters to family without a computer, or make that next great sales presentation, or communicate with that key client, without a computer device!
But what about other things in your life? With silicon chips, there are many more computers in our lives that we may be hard-pressed to recognize. Nowadays, unless your car is from the 1990s, it is a computer on wheels. Your cook your food in a microwave with a digital timer and buttons for various functions. You keep your food cold in a freezer or refrigerator that has its temperature regulated so it stays consistent no matter how many times the doors are opened. Your Blu-ray player, your television, your stereo system, are all digitized - there is no analog anywhere, so all of those devices run on some kind of computer chips.
Shoot, even your electricity is regulated by computer now, as is your water supply. How do you think the water utility knows how much water you use? Your meter feeds a computer that tracks everyone’s usage, and that is how the water bills are produced.
As you think on these things, you may likely come to the conclusion that computer chips are more ubiquitous than we might give credit. There is very little in our lives that is not based or driven by computers in some form or another. And that can easily lead one to think back to how these computer chips get built, and one inevitably goes back to the silicon wafer.
Let’s not think about what life would be like had the silicon wafer not been developed, but instead look at the world had we stopped developing them one day without something to replace them. What if, in other words, silicon wafers were the thread to be pulled on the tapestry that is today’s civilized society?
Could civilization survive without silicon wafers? Could our society prevail if there were no more computer chips to run our various devices? As computer chips were designed to replace such analog devices as vacuum tubes, cathode ray tubes and even radiators, and those quaint analog tools weren’t coming back in a post-silicon wafer era, can you imagine what could happen?
Would it be the Apocalypse?
Wouldn’t that be greatly underestimating the ingenuity of man? We have to be optimistic here. No, the demise of the silicon wafer would not bring our civilization to its knees, but certainly there would be a period of chaos while mankind works to innovate and develop a suitable replacement to the silicon wafer. With the omnipresence of computer chips in all aspects of our lives, it would certainly be reasonable to expect some turmoil, but it is also reasonable to expect that man is adaptable and innovative to come up with something that will prevent a complete collapse of civilization and keep us out of caves.
But what might that look like? What material would it made from? And how would our electronic devices behave differently with this new entity? Perhaps it is the uncertainty of this that is what makes for apocalyptic thoughts about the loss of silicon wafers, and not the loss of the items themselves.
It is just food for thought. While you hunker down in your shelter.
No comments:
Post a Comment