[kragen]

· xerox machines and laser printers (the toner is a plastic with pigment in it)

· ion-exchange membranes and therefore deionized water

· waterproof oven mitts (silicone)

· rtv high-temperature sealant (also silicone, filled with iron oxide)

· waterproof examination gloves (latex, nitrile, vinyl, etc.)

· garden hoses

· sneakers

[pfdietz]

Such a Life of Brian "What have the Romans done for us" vibe to all this. :)

[kragen]

heh

well, some of them are pretty trivial (life without shrinky-dinks is just life) but others are pretty major. when i started out writing this i didn't realize that plastics were essential to literally every way to record motion picture or audio data until the invention of hard disks

[pfdietz]

Resists for photolithography (without which, no integrated circuits).

[kragen]

i did mention that, but probably there is some alternative. for example, you could directly selectively etch away a vacuum-coated metal layer with lasers or electron beams, perhaps even using a shadow mask. so i suspect that's more a question of how expensive the products would be rather than whether they would be feasible at all