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Making Rocks Think

by Addie Noyes

My partner and I both hold an interest in older computers, gadgets, and software, and enjoy watching the old TV series “Computer Chronicles”, running from 1984 to 2002. The show features all sorts of early technologies, and the strangely optimistic tone of the show is a breath of fresh air compared to modern concerns surrounding artificial intelligence and social media. It is a good reminder of why I love this field that I am a part of so much.

Now, I am learning to fabricate the micro-devices that make up computer chips. One of my professors calls it “making rocks think”. It is technical, and there are many serious scientific and economic considerations to make while designing these devices. How efficient is it? How cheap is it to fabricate? How are we going to dispose of this? What about interference from radiation, and parasitic impedance, and thermal runaway in this device?

However, despite all of this math and chemistry, I like to consider making devices and interfacing them together as an art, not a science. Art is a way of capturing a moment in our little corner of the universe. Engineers can take sand and forge it into silicon, to store all of the music and poetry and math and history and knowledge humanity has to offer. Artists engineer our humanity, and engineers the artists whose studio is a lab or workshop.

This concept is important. When we create something, we infuse it with values, just like we do with a work of art. Because of this, I will continue to approach new applications of technology cautiously, but also try to keep some of that naïve “tech-optimism” with me. I hope any projects I work on will not pretend to be soulless and detached, but reflect the intention and care their artisans gave to them.