Sunday, June 19, 2011

I Just Have To Ask... How Does It Work?

I find a lot of things in the world fairly fascinating in a that just doesn't make any sense to me way when I stop to think about them.

I know there are scientific facts and reasons behind things like why huge, heavy airplanes can fly through the air or how I can speak into a phone and have someone clear on the other side of the world hear it instantaneously, but I really just find it all a little baffling.

I press harder on a little pedal and it makes my car go faster? I push a button on a piece of plastic in my hand and the channel on the TV changes? Don't even get me started on not understanding how those shows actually make it to my television or my complete confusion at how the internet works.

Am I the only one who feels this way?

If I mention my complete non-understanding of technology and the way that the world works to my husband, his answer always focuses on the facts. How companies print and apply labels to the glass bottles that have been made out of sand (what? How does that even make sense?) or how the conveyors make it possible for a warehouse to pack and ship thousands of batteries in a package (what? A small metal thing that somehow holds power?).

To further show my lack of understanding of the world, I also sometimes wonder about how inventors even come up with the idea for things in the first place. I get that there must have been a picking system in place to harvest corn... but then who decided that they would take the kernels and heat them up until the point that they burst? Why would you even do that?

I'm sure my husband would like to thank that person for inventing popcorn, but I just don't get it.

Clearly I'm not going to be the next famous inventor or scientist, so I guess it's good that this whole Mom thing I've got going on is working.

Am I the only one who thinks about these things? Do you wonder about the way the world works or are you able to grasp the concepts better than I can?

2 comments:

sustahl said...

I think about all the little things. My husband is an auto technician. He fixes everything that is wrong with a car. It is like a magic act for me... I turn the key and the car runs.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us today.

Jenny said...

LOL, the fax machine had me in awe for quite some time!