液態物質：從蒸氣到油——電子文明的濕潤演化

From Vapor to Oil—The Moist Evolution of Electronic Civilization

When we look back at the history of electronic civilization, we often use the "dry" rhetoric to describe its process of rationalization and abstraction—circuits are seen as pure information flows, and technology as a transparent medium. However, a more material narrative reveals that electronic civilization has never been dry. Since the era of vacuum tubes, liquids have always lurked in the deep structure of electronic technology, existing as conductors, coolants, corrosive fluids, vapors, and even lubricating oils to sustain, interfere with, and shape the life of signals. "Liquid materials" thus become an entry point for media archaeology, uncovering the "moist evolution" of electronic civilization: from the thermodynamic age of vapor, through the vacuum fluids of electron tubes, to the contemporary data materiality of oil-cooled servers, the history of technology is no longer a dry line here, but a circulatory system permeated by moisture.

The 19th-century steam engine not only symbolized the thermodynamic revolution but also laid the foundation for the modern imagination of "energy as fluid". Steam-driven industry transformed physical fluids into economic and political momentum. When electrons emerged as a new "fluid", vacuum tube technology claimed a "dry rational space"—a vacuum was constructed as a metaphor for control, while liquids were excluded and regarded as unstable threats. Yet this "vacuum" was never truly empty: electrons flow at the boundary between gaseous and liquid states, heat conduction relies on oil cooling, and residual vapors inside vacuum tubes continuously "sweat" at the microscopic level. The "dry starting point" of electronic civilization is therefore nothing but a myth, an impetus to govern the uncertainty of liquids.

When vacuum tubes gave way to transistors and integrated circuits, liquids seemed to be expelled, but in reality, they lurked back in more sophisticated forms. Electrolytes, coolants, thermal greases, and even the ion flows in batteries constitute the "moist infrastructure" of electronic civilization. Here, liquids are no longer the opposite of technology, but the condition for control. From the collective control systems of the Cold War to data governance in the internet age, the logic of technology is essentially the governance of fluids: information is liquefied into bitstreams, energy into oil and cooling oil, and social order into continuous data flows. Liquids not only support conduction but also foreshadow infiltration; they are both a medium of connection and a force of dissipation.

Contemporary data centers mark the re-moistening of electronic civilization. Oil-cooled servers, liquid-cooled chips, and microfluidic structures place liquids back in the visible layer of technology. The liquids here serve not only as cooling substances but also as symbols of politics and ecology. They symbolize the hidden violence of energy cycles and reveal the material dependence of information infrastructure. Cooling oil is like the subconscious of electronic civilization—flowing, infiltrating, corroding, and absorbing energy and signals, bringing the digital world back to the moistness of matter and the continuity of ecology.

The reappearance of liquids forces us to pose a fundamental question: Who controls the moisture of technological systems? Moisture is not just a physical parameter, but a metaphor for power relations. Dryness implies transparency, controllability, and predictability; moistness implies ambiguity, infiltration, and infection. The moist evolution of electronic civilization is a process where power shifts from control to flow, and from closure to diffusion. Liquid media enable the transmission of energy and signals, but at the same time, they corrode boundaries, blur subjects, and weaken autonomy. This may mark the era of "liquid governance": the flow of data and energy replaces stable spatial structures, and coolants replace rational air.

The electronic age has never been dry. The logic of technology has always been moist, conductive, and infiltrating. As an intermediary between energy, signals, and corrosion, liquids allow electronic civilization to "breathe". Vapor, vacuum, and oil—these three material forms not only record the evolution of technology but also reveal the fluid politics between control and perception, matter and symbols. "Liquid materials" are therefore not a metaphor, but a media fact: every technological innovation is a reorganization of moisture.