Waves in the Æther
January 17, 2019 10:00 AM Subscribe
Second time's the charm! I never knew someone could hate reverse nibble notation so much.
posted by grumpybear69 at 11:43 AM on January 17, 2019
posted by grumpybear69 at 11:43 AM on January 17, 2019
A Nokia research engineer once told me that they (Finnish men) invented texting because it was easier than talking.
posted by infini at 12:18 PM on January 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by infini at 12:18 PM on January 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
sometimes i think i basically understand technology because i have a CS degree and work on really big databases and stuff
and then i realize i know NOTHING
posted by capnsue at 2:06 PM on January 17, 2019 [3 favorites]
and then i realize i know NOTHING
posted by capnsue at 2:06 PM on January 17, 2019 [3 favorites]
and then i realize i know NOTHING
Well, maybe compared to Everything. For everything you know, there are probably many things you don't know about that thing if you go a little deeper.
A personal example- I started working on laser printers in 1979. I could walk you through a lot of detail on how data sent to a printer gets turned into melted carbon dots on a page, but if I go a little deeper, it's beyond what I know. I know that light striking a photoconductor changes the static charge there, but I don't know how.
(I saw an article once explaining it, and it was stuff I did not know, but it was information I did not need to do my job, and so I did not retain it. Interesting, though.)
Most people don't know how anything works, beyond what buttons do I need to push to do what I want to do. I have a thought experiment from way back regarding my $10 Casio watch- I can enter an alarm time, and when that time arrives, my watch beeps. How does that happen? Explain semiconductors, programming, keyboard matrices, piezo speakers, and at each step of the explanation ask, 'Can you explain that step a little deeper?', until you get to quantum mechanics. Maybe further.
posted by MtDewd at 2:37 PM on January 17, 2019 [4 favorites]
Well, maybe compared to Everything. For everything you know, there are probably many things you don't know about that thing if you go a little deeper.
A personal example- I started working on laser printers in 1979. I could walk you through a lot of detail on how data sent to a printer gets turned into melted carbon dots on a page, but if I go a little deeper, it's beyond what I know. I know that light striking a photoconductor changes the static charge there, but I don't know how.
(I saw an article once explaining it, and it was stuff I did not know, but it was information I did not need to do my job, and so I did not retain it. Interesting, though.)
Most people don't know how anything works, beyond what buttons do I need to push to do what I want to do. I have a thought experiment from way back regarding my $10 Casio watch- I can enter an alarm time, and when that time arrives, my watch beeps. How does that happen? Explain semiconductors, programming, keyboard matrices, piezo speakers, and at each step of the explanation ask, 'Can you explain that step a little deeper?', until you get to quantum mechanics. Maybe further.
posted by MtDewd at 2:37 PM on January 17, 2019 [4 favorites]
This is especially interesting to gnaw on because my anime group is watching Steins;Gate right now, which involves time travel via text messages and a microwave.
posted by itesser at 4:21 PM on January 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by itesser at 4:21 PM on January 17, 2019 [2 favorites]
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posted by grumpybear69 at 11:20 AM on January 17, 2019