A Field Guide for Nature-Resistant Nerds
When I move my finger around, my horrific human greases make electrons leap, and that makes me feel like I’m touching the apps. Underneath those abstractions is, of course, code, code, code: C, C++, JavaScript, PHP, Python. As I read more about the physics of chips, I started to have a kind of acceptance of assembly language. Billions of years earlier, I discovered, an evil witch, or maybe God Themself, cursed the class of materials known as silicates, which are plentiful on this planet, and made them neither insulators nor conductors however rather an eldritch scary known as semiconductors. And as soon as I began to accept that mess and internalize– to accept that the computer is a strange hack of truth– it all ended up being kind of enjoyable.
As I read more about the physics of chips, I began to have a kind of approval of assembly language. Billions of years earlier, I found out, a wicked witch, or perhaps God Themself, cursed the class of products understood as silicates, which are plentiful on this planet, and made them neither insulators nor conductors but rather an eldritch scary understood as semiconductors. And as soon as I started to accept that mess and internalize– to accept that the computer system is a strange hack of truth– it all ended up being kind of fun.