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Hard disagree. The history of consumer electrics goes back maybe a century, but we've been studying and progressing the field of music for tens of thousands of

Hard disagree. The history of consumer electrics goes back maybe a century, but we've been studying and progressing the field of music for tens of thousands of years. Pianos guitars and violins were crafted by hand! Materials were chosen with care and cultivated over decades with the express purpose of providing a certain character to an instrument! The complexity of a harpsichord or piano was insane in a time before supply chains, and they were designed to last centuries and be passed down between generations! That's just the fancy stuff, stringed instruments can and have been made by anyone, and innovation has come from surprising places! Almost anybody can change the balance, or experiment with covering up holes or adding random metal components to see how it affects the sound. All this effort and knowledge and time goes into something created FOR FUN. You can't eat a piano or use it for any reason other than changing the way people feel, yet music has been around since language was first invented or possibly even earlier. An iPad is a homogenous blob, it's components broken down and reconstituted at a molecular level, none of it's original character remains. They are the pinnacle of design, but there's not much room for expression left. They last a few years at most before becoming museum pieces or trash. They're impressive in their own right, they showcase human achievement like nothing else. I'd argue they have a less colorful history than music, however.

Retric 2y ago
> An iPad is a homogeneous blob A homogeneous blob wouldn’t do anything. You’re discounting complexity because it’s not staring you in the face. > History of consumer electronics goes back maybe a century Ceramics go back 9,000+ years and people where making glass 4,000 years ago but that history doesn’t count because… Capacitors, batteries, metals, etc each have their own long history of development without which you didn’t get an iPad. > The complexity of a harpsichord or piano was insane in a time before supply chains They don’t use glass, ceramics, etc. It only seems complicated because you have some idea of all the steps involved. Meanwhile you can’t conceive of everything involved in making just the machines required for a single component.
- itishappy 2y ago
  > A homogeneous blob wouldn’t do anything. You’re discounting complexity because it’s not staring you in the face. Sorry, my phrasing was poor. As a product line, iPads are homogenous. If we both order one, they will be nearly indistinguishable. Their component materials have been homogenized before manufacturing to remove as much of the character of the original sand or rock as possible. > Capacitors, batteries, metals, etc each have their own long history of development without which you didn’t get an iPad. These were not developed with consumer electronics in mind. Electricity itself was only discovered 300 years ago. Electronics absolutely built upon the shoulders of giants, but I don't believe they can claim all human progress as their own. The iPad air doesn't have 5000 years of history because that's when we started refining metals. > Meanwhile you can’t conceive of everything involved in making just the machines required for a single component. My work makes optics for the chip industry, so I like to think I have better idea than most, but I haven't been to anywhere like Shenzhen yet, so I may be out of touch...
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  - Retric 2y ago
    > Their component materials have been homogenized before manufacturing to remove as much of the character of the original … as possible. You also just described musical instruments. The goal is for them to sound identical to similar instruments and a great deal of effort controlling humidity etc falls under that umbrella. People in an Orchestra want specific sounds not just random character from their instruments. > These were not developed with consumer electronics in mind. By that token the harpsichord wasn’t invented with the piano in mind. There’s nothing wrong with this view, but it drops the ‘rich history of musical instruments’ to the work of a tiny number of innovators. > Electricity itself was only discovered 300 years ago Electricity (static shocks, lightning, some evidence for primitive battery etc) was known about since antiquity though obviously we only recently learned how to exploit it. > The iPad air doesn't have 5000 years of history because that's when we started refining metals. The rich history of glassmaking is directly relevant to the iPad and provides some of its most valuable features. If we discount that then the history of musical instruments again becomes one of a tiny number of lone inventors. Apples to apples comparisons favor electronics here.

Retric 2y ago

> An iPad is a homogeneous blob A homogeneous blob wouldn’t do anything. You’re discounting complexity because it’s not staring you in the face. > History of consumer electronics goes back maybe a century Ceramics go back 9,000+ years and people where making glass 4,000 years ago but that history doesn’t count because… Capacitors, batteries, metals, etc each have their own long history of development without which you didn’t get an iPad. > The complexity of a harpsichord or piano was insane in a time before supply chains They don’t use glass, ceramics, etc. It only seems complicated because you have some idea of all the steps involved. Meanwhile you can’t conceive of everything involved in making just the machines required for a single component.

itishappy 2y ago
> A homogeneous blob wouldn’t do anything. You’re discounting complexity because it’s not staring you in the face. Sorry, my phrasing was poor. As a product line, iPads are homogenous. If we both order one, they will be nearly indistinguishable. Their component materials have been homogenized before manufacturing to remove as much of the character of the original sand or rock as possible. > Capacitors, batteries, metals, etc each have their own long history of development without which you didn’t get an iPad. These were not developed with consumer electronics in mind. Electricity itself was only discovered 300 years ago. Electronics absolutely built upon the shoulders of giants, but I don't believe they can claim all human progress as their own. The iPad air doesn't have 5000 years of history because that's when we started refining metals. > Meanwhile you can’t conceive of everything involved in making just the machines required for a single component. My work makes optics for the chip industry, so I like to think I have better idea than most, but I haven't been to anywhere like Shenzhen yet, so I may be out of touch...
- deleted 2y ago
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- Retric 2y ago
  > Their component materials have been homogenized before manufacturing to remove as much of the character of the original … as possible. You also just described musical instruments. The goal is for them to sound identical to similar instruments and a great deal of effort controlling humidity etc falls under that umbrella. People in an Orchestra want specific sounds not just random character from their instruments. > These were not developed with consumer electronics in mind. By that token the harpsichord wasn’t invented with the piano in mind. There’s nothing wrong with this view, but it drops the ‘rich history of musical instruments’ to the work of a tiny number of innovators. > Electricity itself was only discovered 300 years ago Electricity (static shocks, lightning, some evidence for primitive battery etc) was known about since antiquity though obviously we only recently learned how to exploit it. > The iPad air doesn't have 5000 years of history because that's when we started refining metals. The rich history of glassmaking is directly relevant to the iPad and provides some of its most valuable features. If we discount that then the history of musical instruments again becomes one of a tiny number of lone inventors. Apples to apples comparisons favor electronics here.