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We don't have the vocabulary to separate two ways people use "critical": "required for something's functioning", and "not substitutable". A tire is critical to
by pradn 3y ago
We don't have the vocabulary to separate two ways people use "critical": "required for something's functioning", and "not substitutable".
A tire is critical to a car's functioning, but there's plenty of brands to choose from if one tire company goes bust. Ofc, substitutability is a matter of degree - cost/time.
- hn_throwaway_99 3y agoAny language can explain that difference easily. Even if all the article said was that this factory was "critical" to the semiconductor industry, I wouldn't have commented. Saying "the semiconductor industry hinges on a quartz factory..." or "The modern economy rests on a single road in Spruce Pine, North Carolina" is a very different type of deliberate hyperbole.
- pradn 3y agoThose are true statements in the exact same way, though! "Hinges" and "rests" are used in the same way as "critical". Ofc, this requires some interpretive thought - and that may be a lot to ask of a general reader.