Thank you very much! Does the Rabbi have a definition of exactly when it is considered that “I awakened the wire from death to life”? I think a halakhic ruling from you could really revolutionize the subject.

What do you mean, from when? When you turn on an electrical device and it starts operating. My halakhic rulings don’t revolutionize any subject. Sometimes unfortunately, and sometimes maybe not.

So basically, only when you turn on an electrical device have you done the labor of building? Any other use, no?

Obviously. Is using a lamp or oven that is already on considered building? When using a computer, you activate a function or circuit in a device that is already operating. So here one has to discuss whether and when that would be considered building.

But even if it’s not building, aren’t there other prohibited labors involved in typing a letter on a computer? I can think of additional labors that could be discussed here.

That is certainly an impressive ability. Good for you! 🙂

Honorable Rabbi, when I wrote “use,” I meant a use that deals with the electricity in the device itself (as opposed to moving a lit flashlight from place to place). So if, for example, I open an app on a smartphone that is already on, are you basically claiming that there is no prohibited labor here, because electricity is already flowing in the wires themselves?

When opening an app there is a stronger basis to view it as building. You have turned the phone into a certain kind of device (depending on what the app does). And maybe it depends on which app we are talking about: if it is an app that uses the device, for example, to measure pulse, then it has become something else. But an app for some computational use may be less of a transformation into a device, and this requires further analysis.

Thanks for the compliment, but I didn’t come to show off. I’m asking a question.
If we conclude that typing text on a computer is not building, is there no other prohibited labor involved? (creating something new, the final hammer blow, perhaps kindling—electric current)

I was joking. I meant to point out to you that it would be proper to spell out those labors you had in mind. 🙂
I was asked about the prohibitions of writing and building, and that is what I answered. When people speak about a prohibited labor in halakhic jargon, that means a Torah prohibition. Creating current is not a Torah-level prohibited labor but a rabbinic prohibition. That indeed exists here.
In my opinion, the final hammer blow is not relevant. For the same reasons that I had doubts about building, regarding the final hammer blow it is clearly not applicable.
Kindling does not apply, by all opinions, when there is no incandescent filament. That is said about an electrical device like a bulb, not about electronics.

Doesn’t the electricity that does or does not pass through the bits amount to opening and closing a circuit?

My definition of building is not based on closing a circuit.