We all work with computers so much that I think we become immune to the absolute *wonder* that so much of modern life does what it does, largely unnoticed until it breaks, all thanks to (as somebody on here once said) "teaching sand how to think".
For all the irritations of technology, the number of astonishing things that happen so that I can type this and y'all can read it is amazing.
Story time:
So - I have two college degrees, both A.S. because I'm flighty. One is in laser/electro-optic technology, which is a heady mix of high voltage electronics, optics, and plumbing - and the other is Computer Science. I understand on a reasonable level the theory of operations of electronics and computer hardware, from the physics of how transistors work to logic gates to CPU architecture, to machine language and drivers and operating systems and so on. And I can tell you right now - it's witchcraft. Nothing with this many moving (or at least active) parts and this level of complexity should function for more than a moment or two without failing horribly. You may say that's a testament to decades of research - and it is - but it's also bloody witchcraft. We force rocks to think using lightning, and we pretend that's not magic. And they do it *reliably*. I have servers that run for years at a time, 24x7. Literally they run until they're obsolete. That's NOT NORMAL.
just sayin.
