Machined Language

Crack the case, let in some light: the interior of a computer is a dense black box teeming with inscriptions seen and unseen, macro- and microscopic, alphanumeric and symbolic, electromagnetic and photolithographic, tumbling at all angles and orientations—up, down, over, under—through the internal subdivisions of boards and components: a graphemic riot of hieroglyphics and graffiti etched and stamped and dyed and pasted. Machined language not machine language (but to see it all takes more than human eyes). Beside such riches the pressed decals of the keyboard can seem poor indeed, and the flickering signifiers of the screen dim and wan.