>...I think the moment that I held core memory in my hands was the closest I've really gotten to "the metal" in my life<
Why is that? You don't build your own computers anymore? Or write a small for fun application on ESP32 that you slap on a board made by yourself? That's the fun, to have a helicopter toy flying your own board + software.
No, even when I put together a PC, I was putting chips and boards together.
But as a boy holding that memory board, I was looking at the cores that held individual bits of memory. Instead of connecting things with ribbon cables or whatever, I was looking at tiny wire that would transmit individual bits of information.
Why is that? You don't build your own computers anymore? Or write a small for fun application on ESP32 that you slap on a board made by yourself? That's the fun, to have a helicopter toy flying your own board + software.