[52-6F-62]

Good point!

I used to play that same thought experiment with more basic utilities like my toaster with it's various settings and electronic controllers. Then I was given a Dualit. No more philosophical dilemmas!

Kidding aside, it's always staggering how far removed we really are from operating on (humanly) first principles. Humbling.

[adrianN]

There are many people on the internet researching how basic things can be made in a low-tech fashion. I particularly enjoy https://simplifier.neocities.org/ for example.

But if you read those blogs you still notice the mind boggling height of the giants whose shoulders the bloggers stand on. Having access to simple chemicals like acids or various salts for example is huge. I wouldn't even know where to start if I had to bootstrap a highschool chemistry kit starting with nothing but my hands and my knowledge.

[sudosysgen]

The Dr. Stone manga provides an interesting perspective on how you'd bootstrap that chemistry kit.

[adrianN]

219 chapters and ongoing. Whew. This confirms my suspicion that bootstrapping is really hard.

[52-6F-62]

Whoa this is great! Thanks for the link!