The mind boggling complexity of everyday life.

Technology is all around us. The range of human invention is absolutely astounding to me. The lowly pencil is a marvel of engineering. Our dishes and cups are perfectly milled. Even the water we drink is carefully cleaned and processed to filter out the bad to keep the good. The wealth we enjoy on a daily basis is hard to fathom, even a scant hundred years ago. But, have you ever stopped to think how all this is accomplished? The factories that produce pencils are absolute marvels! I watched a documentary about how ballpoint pens are manufactured, and the technology is bewilderingly complex. For instance, the little ball at the functioning point of the pen is so perfectly made that there is only space for ink and none for air--and those balls are microscopically tiny.

I love to learn of the sequence of advances leading up to modern technology. Often, it's expansion and extension of already known ideas, pushed into new arenas and modified to work. The refrigerator is a side-effect of scientists working to discover absolute zero (a temperature so low that not even atoms jiggle about and no heat is found). The plastics we find in daily life is not the same we started with, but is a finely tuned product with a huge variety of strengths and capabilities. Even the paper we use is wonderfully suited to our needs, and we hardly give a thought to how it's made.

Many early science fiction stories used a plot of dragging a future man into the present, where people would question him and try to learn new technologies. These attempts would always fail, because even a scientist would not be able to completely detail even simple tools. After all, you can drive a car, or rebuild an engine, but could you give schematics and processes and tools for building one from scratch? Even if you did the design, there's the fabrication and metallurgy and skills to go along with the process. Today, I very much doubt any single person could be of much help to someone a hundred years ago, other than to offer ideas and concepts.

Isn't that amazing? We live in abundant times of sheer magnificence. Take a little time and appreciate what's available to you daily. We are blessed.

- M

Cell phones ... calamity or boon?

Despite the fact that I'm a huge computer nerd, science geek, and overall technology nut, I only recently got a cell phone. An old one that I wouldn't trust to faithfully load web pages. My wife wanted me to have one, so now I do. Being on the outside of the cell phone culture has granted me a fairly uncommon point of view. In my view, it's clear that people put extreme priority on their cell phones--to the point where they are willing to interrupt anything at all (and I mean anything) to check what the just arrived text message says. I've watched people in the midst of a sentence to someone standing directly in front of them, pause and look at the phone before carrying on the sentence. It's astounding. And, let's not get started with cell phones and driving, because it's a pile of torment.

But--and there's always a but, isn't there--cell phones have undeniably improved our world. Information is accessible anywhere, anytime, and thus our world has become interconnected to an extent even science fiction writers never imagined. We can literally chat with someone on the other side of the planet, from our tent in the Sahara, and see them at the same time! Wow. I still shudder with disbelief when I consider how everyone is a simple tap and call away. Incredible.

Wait, there's more! Cell phones are now smart phones. Essentially they are hand held computers, capable of anything a full-sized computer could do only five years ago. I'm still waiting for hologram displays I can use without having special glasses, or usable anywhere keyboards made with laser lights. Our phones are an essential part of our lives, and likely store more of our lives than our own memories. Losing a phone is such a hardship that people hyperventilate at the mere thought. Don't worry, the cloud backs up all your pictures and pretty soon there'll be some sort of neural network with all information ever created online. Information at our fingertips has never been truer.

- M

Rain is such a comforting sound, but are there others?

My wife loves the sound of rain, and so I've come to love it as well. She's certainly not alone, considering a whole music industry exists to create "white noise" to help people sleep. Back years ago there was a huge fad of recorded "nature" music (I swear some sounded like recordings from somebody's back porch). Thing is, those sold like crazy! People have a craving for natural sounds, particularly us city folk. It's comforting.

For me, the sounds of waves (practically true white noise) and the sound of water moving around obstructions. My absolute favorite is the sound of an oar moving through water--it just makes my ears happy. I sure can't explain why I like it, I just do. My guess is most people can't really give points as to why they like certain sounds, or foods, or most anything at all. We like what we like because we like what we like. So, I enjoy discovering what people like and picking their brains for why--yup, I know they haven't a clue, but it's fun listening to their explanations.

The other part of the equation is why we want to listen in the first place. Is it relaxation, meditation, or pure enjoyment? My wife has taught me to slow down and enjoy the music of rain. Maybe that's the greatest value of nature sounds and the reason we should all listen to it. Well, that's my thought for the day. Tomorrow, I'll tackle world peace ... or maybe figure out how to get my cats to sing opera...

- M

Trying new things and turning ideas upside down

Some ideas are such fun to toy with. Take time travel for instance. We've all seen movies, or read stories, or wondered how fun it would be. Yet, I've only really seen ideas where you either move forward or backward in time. Well, what if you compress it? Such that you could begin a trip and instantly be where you wanted. Or, expand it, so you could accomplish an enormous amount and have it take no real time at all. What about shifting out of reality all together, by means of isolating yourself from time? There's all sorts of fun to be had there.

Dr. Who TARDIS
image credit

How about cakes? I remember when I thought you could only follow standard recipes, or use a cake kit. Now, I know I can use diet soda to make a sugar-free cake! Wow, what a concept! And, you can scramble an egg while it's still in its shell! I love new ways of doing things. But, why are we so surprised when we discover new ways? Probably we wished we had come up with them, right?

 

There's a great thinking concept, called "lateral thinking," which exercises your brain in coming up with innovative solutions. For instance, a manufacturer of metal ball bearings is ending up with dents because the balls are hitting the conveyer belt too hard from the upper level. How can it be fixed? Lots of ways, sure. The way the manufacturer used was to make many small drops on the way down, which didn't cause dents. Okay, now figure out another dozen ways to accomplish it... that's lateral thinking and you've just exercised your brain!

 

- M

Cartography -- ie. mapmaking

Have you ever looked at really old maps? Especially ones without North America on them. They have really interesting parts, such as the famous "Here be dragons" and vague boundaries of Africa and other areas. There was so much unknown at those times, and it's interesting to imagine how this changed as the world became understood. I wonder what it was like not to know? Going into the darkness must have taken real courage. After all, dragons were real, weren't they?

 

Do we still have that kind of unknown now? Yes, there's space and the vast areas underwater. I think we all have a primal fear of large vistas of water, because who knows what's underneath. And space, wow, it's totally empty, hostile, and filled with unexpected terrors. But, also very beautiful. The unknown is like that, I think. When you really come face-to-face with it, there's a surprising beauty to be found. Well, unless it's a zombie or some kind of space vampire or something--that wouldn't be nice at all.

 

I'd love to collect old maps. They are works of art, and relics of a bygone era. The world will never again look strange and unknown. And, there are stories hidden in those maps, secrets to find, and mysteries to solve. Mostly, they're history and I'd love to own a small piece of it. Funny, I never expected I'd want to learn more history, but I do. Truly, knowing the past helps us know the future. And, it's like time travelling, with art at your side.

 

- M