I was thinking about technology and how I don’t understand it. I don’t mean like in a George Bush way. I have been instructed in physics. I know how to link to How Stuff Works. My brothers have helped teach me things like how a steam burn is worse than a water burn, and how to change a tail light bulb (I get unreasonably proud of myself for doing CAR STUFF).
But there are several forms of tekknowledgey that, no matter how often you explain them to me, involve a mental leap that I can’t make without screwing up my eyes really hard and steering off the road. I call these forms “magic.” For instance, vinyl. How do all those little bumps and grooves in the record translate to rich, vibrant music that you can bump and groove to? It’s magic. Slightly dated magic (arguable, I know), but magic nonetheless. Radios. The antennae can pick up “frequencies” from thin air and turn them into polyphonic sound? I don’t THINK so. Magic. Don’t even get me started on fax machines.
It’s not related to the complexity of the technology, you’ll note. iPods? Totally science-based. Nuclear physics? Bet I could do it if I put the time into it.
Saturday 14 June 2008
Magic
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2 comments:
I have always said the same thing about radios! I'm more amazed by tech stuff from 100 years ago than from today. How did anyone come up with the idea of a radio or telegraph or laying a cable udner the Atlantic Ocean? Those are so monumental compared to just making advancements on them like it seems is done today.
(But secretly I don't understand any of it)
A slight difference in air speed over spindly wings can lift a massive plane up over the fluffy clouds and land me in NYC by nightfall? Voodoo.
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