sciencenew

I'm sure we all can agree that a human couldn't build a modern computer from raw materials. Someone can assemble the components (CPU, motherboard, hard drive, etc.) but automated machines are required to etch the millions of transistors onto a CPU and manufacture many of the other components. These machines themselves are very sophisticated, and I imagine building them requires other machines. With this chain of machines building machines, what is the risk of civilization losing a vital link in the chain? For instance, what if we somehow forget how to build the machines that manufacture CPU etchers? As the existing CPU etchers wear out, wouldn't the supply of new computers decline without the ability to replace them? It reminds me of a project to reconstruct one of the old Atari CPUs. The design of the chip was proprietary, and almost lost since the original company disappeared. This shows that civilization can lose knowledge of seemingly obsolete technology, even though that knowledge played a key role in developing modern technology. Forgetting how to build key components might seem unlikely with so many different brands of computers and components. However, most of the manufacturing for major brands has been consolidated to a small number of OEMs. Since many of these OEMs use secret and proprietary methods, it seems that a lot of knowledge could be lost if one of them went out of business or simply discarded vital information without realizing its importance. If we lose a link in this chain, couldn't there be a digital dark age while we figure out how to reconstruct the chain?