On technology

No one knows why the universe is the way the way it is.

But it is the way it is.

And because the universe is the way it is, things work the way they work.

Our simplest understanding of the universe is as follows: There’s some space, some stuff in the space, and some rules to follow. Again, no idea why, but that’s how it is.

Because of these facts, many other facts follow.

The universe has time and space. Because the universe has time, there is a thing we call energy. Because the universe has space, there is a thing we call momentum.

The universe is filled with 17 known kinds of stuff. Some don’t do much. Some clump into things we call atoms. There are around a hundred kinds of atoms.

Because of these facts, things work the way they work.

Energy: We cannot make energy go up or down. No matter how smart we are, this is too hard. So we have built entire industries to get energy and move energy.

Momentum: We cannot make momentum go up or down, just like energy. But unlike energy, we can get momentum by pushing off the Earth (this works for momentum because space has two directions: forward and backward. This does not work for energy because time has one direction: forward. If time could go backward, then maybe we could push off the Earth to go back in time). Because we are on Earth, we have not built entire industries to get and move momentum (except for space, where there is no Earth).

Atoms: We cannot make the kinds of atoms go up or down (except by costly nuclear stuff). So we have built entire industries to get atoms, rearrange atoms, and move atoms.

Technologies manipulate things. There are different things to manipulate. And there are different ways things can be manipulated.

The different things manipulated by technology can be lumped. (1) energy, (2) atoms, and (3) information.

The different ways things can be manipulated can be classified by what happens to positions. If an object’s parts are repositioned, we can call that (A) processing. If an object itself is repositioned, we can call that (B) transport. And if an object is not repositioned, we can call that (C) storage.

From these three things (energy, atoms, information) and three manipulations (processing, transport, storage) we can make a 3x3 classification of technology.

Things work the way they work, because the universe is the way it is.