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gress

How do you foresee the decentralized production of CPUs being achieved?

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A bit of a non-sequiter, but I'll bite.

Replicating toolboxes. Or self-replicating benchtop factories.

Microcontrollers could be produced using dip-pen nanolithigraohy, or a few other techniques.

Of course we need decent open source atomic force microscopes first.

There will always be components that can't be produced on that kind of scale. In reprap parlance we call the "vitamins". An apt metaphor.

The production of integrated circuits is very much dictated by economies of scale. The capital require is simply too large to justify the creation of a production line for a small run. If you crack that particular nut then you're going to be the next Bill Gates.

The capital required to currently produce top-of-the-line ICs is too large. But we're getting closer - people are building their own CPUs. E.g. there was the article of someone breadboarding a CPU in the 10's of MHz range recently. And there are plenty of FPGA projects, which while still depending on ICs manufactured by a central manufacturer substantially reduces their role.

How exactly do FPGAs do antything at all to reduce the role of central manufacturing?

The same way computers do: you can reprogram them instead of buying a new thingamajig.

This makes no sense. Computers are made of centrally manufactured components, and are regularly replaced by new ones as technology advances.

This applies to CPU's too and is in no way mitigated by FPGAs.

I use my computer to read books, for example. This eliminates the central manufacturing of books; when I want to read a book, I tell my computer to turn into a book, thus manufacturing one temporarily on my desktop until I'm done.

I use my computer to graph equations. This eliminates the central manufacturing of graph paper; when I want graph paper, I tell my computer to turn into graph paper.

I use my computer to make telephone calls. This eliminates the central manufacturing both of telephones and of telephone switches; when I want a telephone call, I tell my computer to turn into a phone, and it turns routers into phone switches.

I use my computer to watch pornography. This eliminates the central manufacturing of porn VHS tapes; when I want a porn video, I tell my computer to turn into a porn video.

I use my computer to store books. This eliminates the manufacturing of bookshelves, although to be fair, bookshelf manufacturing has never been as centralized as computer manufacturing.

I use my computer to do engineering design. This eliminates the central manufacturing of drafting tables, slide rules, and pocket calculators.

I use my computer to find out what time it is. This eliminates the central manufacturing of wristwatches.

I use my computer to send letters such as this one. This eliminates the central manufacturing of envelopes and postage stamps.

I use my computer to find out about Syrian children drowning in Turkey. This eliminates the central manufacturing of newspapers, although again, this may not have been as centralized as computer manufacturing is.

Perhaps this can help you to understand in what sense the original statement is true, as well as the sense you've already pointed out in which it is false.

An open-source, cheap AFM: http://hackaday.com/2015/01/13/cheap-diy-microscope-sees-ind...

> benchtop factories

This is feasible even using current production techniques. Just make smaller tools.

Open hardware designs are a bigger part of the problem, IMO.

We have open hardware designs including the RISC-V, the OpenRISC, and the SPARC, but we don't have desktop semiconductor fabs, nor will we in the foreseeable future.

> need decent open source atomic force microscopes

If the LHC stuff pans out, we may need open source replicators. :)

That's a bit further down the line, but for now it's adequate to have end-users buy CPUs produced in a centralized manner, as long as they are able to control what those CPUs do by running free software on them.

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