4 ms·

It's amazing that humanity can produce this sort of hardware under $1. This has implications that are more profound than previous industrial revolutions. In ce

It's amazing that humanity can produce this sort of hardware under $1. This has implications that are more profound than previous industrial revolutions. In centuries from now, our time will be studied as a remarkably revolutionary one.

baybal2 5y ago
In fact, even $1 microcontrollers are considered very expensive by industry standards. Cheapest micros hovered around 10 cents mark before the semiconductor crisis. Some Padauk micros go for single cents.
- agumonkey 5y ago
  10cents dual core 32 bits arch ?
  - throwaway81523 5y ago
    The 10 cent mcus that I know of are 8 bitters, which is fine for plenty of purposes.
supercucklchaim 5y ago
I find it amazing as well, now we can sleep at night knowing progress will potently progress.
pjmlp 5y ago
Given our love for destruction, and ongoing events, it will be talked about the same way as we talk about Babylon, Egypt, Sumerian, ancient Roman and Greece, Aztecs and Mayas.
4ggr0 5y ago
I would argue that this kind of price is only doable because people and resources are being exploited for it. Not specifically only for these microcontrollers, but most our consumer products in general. In a worst case scenario, the resources for this $1 microcontroller were mined by an african child, barely earning anything. These resources are then shipped to China(probably), where people along the way don't earn much either. Except the white collar workers managing it all, of course. These controllers are then built in a factory, either by robots, or low-earning workers. Then shipped to a warehouse. For me, the fact that such things can be bought so cheaply is not really an achievement if we look at how broken the supply chains are if we consider the humans who are affected by them. And also the environment which gets destroyed quite a bit. I am of course talking from a moralist and empathical perspective. What I am trying to say is, that this is only an achievement because we accept or ignore the drastic consequences.
- asddubs 5y ago
  Also environmental damage that will cost to repair, offloaded onto the government or even future generations
- AussieWog93 5y ago
  >I am of course talking from a moralist and empathical perspective. Speaking from a business and engineering perspective, I'd be surprised if (even in an ideal world with no environmental externalities or exploited third-world labourers) the cost of the raw resources, shipping and e-waste processing were a significant part of that $1. We're literally talking about something 1/16 the size of a postage stamp that gets stamped into a similarly tiny plastic shell. From my admittedly "peak mount stupid"[1] position as an engineer that uses these things, I'd suspect that the biggest contributors to that $1 figure come from the expert labour required to both R&D the chips as well as run the machines that manufacture them. [1] http://theengineeringmanager.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/20111228.gif http://theengineeringmanager.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/...
- dtgriscom 5y ago
  I share your concerns, but I doubt the materials are a major component of the cost of goods for these.
- amelius 5y ago
  The first step in solving these problems is getting the accounting in place, so we know exactly who is paying what. It is beyond me why we are not even doing that. Anyway, we could solve these problems if we doubled the price. And then it would still be an amazing achievement.
- WaxedChewbacca 5y ago
- graderjs 5y ago
  I'm sure there's truth to that. But I also think a large proportion of the price (and in general the plummeting price, and apogee-ing performance of many high tech components, such as batteries) is due not to exploitation, but to increases in efficiency. The bequeathed legacy of the thousand accreted technologies and improvements that have layered to produce contemporary supply chains. Of course...everything we do today is based on exploitation: 1000s of years of exploitation of humans, frequently the worker and poorer classes' labor, 100s of years, and billions dead in war...all our achievements today literally stand atop this ginormous pile of blood and death...but, that ever-present historical reality aside...I think a large proportion of the skyrocketing perf and ocean-depth-plumbing prices of components is due to the compounding and intersecting effects of all our technological efficiencies.

baybal2 5y ago

In fact, even $1 microcontrollers are considered very expensive by industry standards. Cheapest micros hovered around 10 cents mark before the semiconductor crisis. Some Padauk micros go for single cents.

agumonkey 5y ago
10cents dual core 32 bits arch ?
- throwaway81523 5y ago
  The 10 cent mcus that I know of are 8 bitters, which is fine for plenty of purposes.

supercucklchaim 5y ago

I find it amazing as well, now we can sleep at night knowing progress will potently progress.

pjmlp 5y ago

Given our love for destruction, and ongoing events, it will be talked about the same way as we talk about Babylon, Egypt, Sumerian, ancient Roman and Greece, Aztecs and Mayas.

4ggr0 5y ago

I would argue that this kind of price is only doable because people and resources are being exploited for it. Not specifically only for these microcontrollers, but most our consumer products in general. In a worst case scenario, the resources for this $1 microcontroller were mined by an african child, barely earning anything. These resources are then shipped to China(probably), where people along the way don't earn much either. Except the white collar workers managing it all, of course. These controllers are then built in a factory, either by robots, or low-earning workers. Then shipped to a warehouse. For me, the fact that such things can be bought so cheaply is not really an achievement if we look at how broken the supply chains are if we consider the humans who are affected by them. And also the environment which gets destroyed quite a bit. I am of course talking from a moralist and empathical perspective. What I am trying to say is, that this is only an achievement because we accept or ignore the drastic consequences.

asddubs 5y ago
Also environmental damage that will cost to repair, offloaded onto the government or even future generations
AussieWog93 5y ago
>I am of course talking from a moralist and empathical perspective. Speaking from a business and engineering perspective, I'd be surprised if (even in an ideal world with no environmental externalities or exploited third-world labourers) the cost of the raw resources, shipping and e-waste processing were a significant part of that $1. We're literally talking about something 1/16 the size of a postage stamp that gets stamped into a similarly tiny plastic shell. From my admittedly "peak mount stupid"[1] position as an engineer that uses these things, I'd suspect that the biggest contributors to that $1 figure come from the expert labour required to both R&D the chips as well as run the machines that manufacture them. [1] http://theengineeringmanager.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/20111228.gif http://theengineeringmanager.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/...
dtgriscom 5y ago
I share your concerns, but I doubt the materials are a major component of the cost of goods for these.
amelius 5y ago
The first step in solving these problems is getting the accounting in place, so we know exactly who is paying what. It is beyond me why we are not even doing that. Anyway, we could solve these problems if we doubled the price. And then it would still be an amazing achievement.
WaxedChewbacca 5y ago
graderjs 5y ago
I'm sure there's truth to that. But I also think a large proportion of the price (and in general the plummeting price, and apogee-ing performance of many high tech components, such as batteries) is due not to exploitation, but to increases in efficiency. The bequeathed legacy of the thousand accreted technologies and improvements that have layered to produce contemporary supply chains. Of course...everything we do today is based on exploitation: 1000s of years of exploitation of humans, frequently the worker and poorer classes' labor, 100s of years, and billions dead in war...all our achievements today literally stand atop this ginormous pile of blood and death...but, that ever-present historical reality aside...I think a large proportion of the skyrocketing perf and ocean-depth-plumbing prices of components is due to the compounding and intersecting effects of all our technological efficiencies.