Glass *is* silicon, as is what we've been staring into, all of us, in the form
of mediated and virtual life for quite some time now in a variety of forms that
tend to lead us astray in our perception of the nature of reality. But this
misperception is wider than the particular valley of silicon we've been gazing
into recently. Consider that we've been gazing through glass for 170 years in
the form of photography: what has that done to our perception of and interaction
with reality?
Yet what if one were to gaze not into a crystal ball but rather a chunk of
silicon? Not transparent glass but rather an opaque, geologic material at the
very core of digital technology.
*Window Weather* http://neoscenes.net/blog/archives/75283 for a brief history of
silicon dioxide, glass:
All organisms, humans included, evolve ways of modulating and attenuating the
changing flows that are potentially harmful to them. Humans are exceptionally
well-adapted to utilize and re-configure available flows to secure incrementally
increased viability. In one instance they discovered that they could manipulate
the most common forms of energized matter at the surface of the earth — silicon
and oxygen, with bits of carbon, sodium, and calcium — to create a substance
that was, at human scales, relatively impervious and that could constrict extant
or generated flows in a variety of ways.
Subsequent to its discovery, glass performed a set of functions that would
fundamentally alter the energetic relationship of humans with their environment.
It also significantly altered social relation and the flows of energy within the
burgeoning techno-social system (TSS). Even before human fabrication of glass,
the sourcing of flint, chert, obsidian, and other forms of knappable lithics [1]
was a primary influence on population location and clan/tribal viability.
Without the enormous advantage conferred via the tools and weapons produced from
these substances, life in the Paleolithic was severely compromised.
The precise origin of the initial human fabrication of glass is unknown, but was
likely an accidental occurrence somewhere in Mesopotamia around 3500 BCE. Its
utility as a robust and immutable container was eventually established and the
technology for its production was widely spread during Roman times. Its use was
largely restricted to a decorative substitute for precious stones outside of
western Eurasia until the mid-18th century. Between the 14th and 18th centuries,
the Venetians created a sophisticated production regime that raised the
technological level substantially to include reflective (silvered) mirrors,
complex vessels, and lenses.
The use of glass in windows -— existing in Roman times but stagnating like many
technologies after the collapse of the Empire -— developed substantially between
1100 and 1600. It is this particular use that surfaced when I was living in
Reykjavik, Iceland in the 1990s:
There is a word in Icelandic “gluggaveðri” that translates literally as “window
weather.” This suggests a kind of weather where it is much more comfortable
sitting on the inside of the window than on the outside. Windows came to Iceland
early, but glass was a premium commodity, so the half-underground sod huts of
early Iceland might have only one 15 x 15 cm window set in a wooden door at one
end of the hut. Better to be watching out this window than experiencing the
full-bodied wrath of a winter storm, a rök [2], a storm with the power to remove
life from the body. By putting the sheet of silicon dioxide between the body and
the storm, a sort of virtual world appeared -― one that could be seen but not
felt. Toasty, steamy warm inside with the sheep and ponies, death-dealing
blizzard outside.
Anthropologist, Alan MacFarlane, tracing the history of glass forward beyond
decorative and limited household uses, suggests that without glass there would
never have been a scientific revolution in the Western world. The use of glass
in a wide variety of (transparent) containers made possible a range of
fundamental experimental situations in evolving scientific endeavor. The results
of those experiments over time increased the precision by which humans then
controlled flows around themselves. This control liberated even more energy for
innovation. This, by definition, led to more optimized living, leading to more
efficient use of available energy flows, subsequently ‘liberating’ extra energy
to drive a cycle of knowledge propagation and further innovation.
However, the spread of the use of glass was contingent on the stable
availability of fuels for the very energy-intensive manufacturing process. That
proceess needs sustained temperatures above 600°C — almost as high as some
worked metals. It also depends on a clean and controlled production environment
and on sourcing the relatively pure silicon dioxide (usually in the form of
clean sand) and the other chemical ingredients.
