Concretization

The first automobiles looked like horse carriages without the horse. Not because engineers lacked imagination but because the object had not yet discovered its own internal logic. The horseless carriage had a chassis designed to be pulled, wheels spaced for animal harnesses, an engine bolted onto a frame designed for different propulsion. Each subsystem pursued its own logic, held together by external compromise. Simondon called this the abstract stage — not theoretical but abstracted from each other, each component performing its function without participating in the others'. Over subsequent decades, engines concretized. Cylinder fins that dissipated heat also provided structural rigidity. Exhaust manifolds shaped for gas evacuation were also designed for thermal pre-conditioning of intake air. Parts that had been separate merged. Functions that had been distributed converged into single elements serving multiple purposes. The technical object became more internally coherent, more concrete.