I have a somewhat related dream. Have you ever read "I, pencil"? https://mises.org/library/i-pencil https://mises.org/library/i-pencil Pick any human artifact.

I have a somewhat related dream. Have you ever read "I, pencil"? https://mises.org/library/i-pencil https://mises.org/library/i-pencil Pick any human artifact. The pencil might be a good start, but really I'd prefer something like the CPU. Start with what we currently know. How do we make this thing? How do we make the tools and materials and everything else involved in making the thing? Recurse all the way down. And then - how could we optimize that? This thing we make is part of a massive global human economy, entangled with all sorts of other things. But what if we didn't care about any of that? What parts are unnecessary? What can we simplify? How would you make this thing "from scratch"? For example, on a desolate, uninhabited planet. What could you bootstrap locally, what is absolutely necessary to bring? The real end goal, for me, is: how would you build a human artifact that could self-replicate on another planet? What is the simplest such artifact we could come up with? Could you do it without any pre-existing organic life? Maybe a CPU; certainly not a pencil, if you don't have access to wood. Unless you bring seeds and whatever else you need to grow your own forests...