# Astounded by tech **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 19, 2018, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954 "2018-01-19T08:09:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954/21 "2018-01-19T16:39:33Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I think you’re just joking about this. Surely you realize that a vinyl record is placed on a record player (sometimes called a phonograph, which is Latin for ‘picture of a telephone’). The record player spins the record and a needle mounted on the end of an arm is inserted into the groove at the outer edge of the record. The groove is one long spiral and as the record turns the needle moves along in the groove. The needle is connected to a little baton inside the record player that directs a tiny little orchestra what to play. No, no, no! The amazing thing is how all that sound came out of [one little dog sitting in front of the horn.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nipper) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954/22 "2018-01-19T16:39:52Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > How can micron(?) sized pits in a piece of plastic do the same thing? 😉 > > Actually, to a greater scale involving hard drives. Same principle as a record player I described above. In a CD or DVD a bright light shining on the little bits is reflected into the eyes of a little conductor inside the player. As he moves around trying to avoid the light he moves his baton and directs a tiny little orchestra. The hard disk is tougher to explain because it uses magnets. Magnet is Latin for ‘magical internet’, but since no one knows how magnets work I can’t explain any further. ---
**Author:** ![ASGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@ASGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954/23 "2018-01-19T16:43:23Z")
A bit more on the “damn I like this technology” side is my garage door opener with remote. I use it daily and take it for granted. But it’s a great marriage of the industrial revolution (motors, precision machining and lubricants); mid-level technology (infrared sensing); large scale integration (silicon chips to process commands and make things happen). Sure beats having to get out in the rain and lift up a wooden garage door. (Which thankfully are becoming a relic.) ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954/24 "2018-01-19T16:48:40Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Magnets amaze me. I don’t think anyone knows how they work. I agree. while I ‘understand’ in a sort of vaguely conceptual sense that electricity is a force that results from charged particles, I don’t _really_ understand what that means. And the fact that some smart mofos could identify and even begin to attempt to define the nature of invisible forces like electromagnetism or gravity at a time centuries ago when the world travelled by horse drawn carts just blows my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954/25 "2018-01-19T17:04:37Z")
Back in my college days my music collection was a combination of albums stored in a peach crate and cassettes stored in a briefcase. Now all that music fits on a device about the size of a pack of gum. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954/26 "2018-01-19T17:17:25Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > I agree. while I ‘understand’ in a sort of vaguely conceptual sense that electricity is a force that results from charged particles, I don’t _really_ understand what that means. And the fact that some smart mofos could identify and even begin to attempt to define the nature of invisible forces like electromagnetism or gravity at a time centuries ago when the world travelled by horse drawn carts just blows my mind. Half the point of science is that, ultimately, we don’t have to define the nature of things. We just have to define their _behaviour_. It doesn’t matter whether electricity is the result of moving charged particles, or the will of the gods, or aetheric transfers, or whatever… as long as we can show that it follows predictable and understandable rules. Now, a definition of the nature of something may help in figuring out further applications of it, so it is by no means useless, but that’s a second-level benefit. The core of science is observing behaviour. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954/27 "2018-01-19T17:26:28Z")
Often when I use my cellphone, I think about Dick Tracy’s 2-way wrist radios, which were unimaginable when I was a kid. My “concern” is when more and more products become to technically advanced, that very few users will have any idea how they function. Silly example - our oven does not reliably maintain temperature. 3 service visits - no success. Not a cheap stove, fails to do the primary function. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954/28 "2018-01-19T17:37:09Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Pull over to the kerb so that I may get something out of the boot. > > “Electronic valve” is more explanatory than “transistor” though. Make sure not to run over the kerb with your tyres. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954/29 "2018-01-19T17:47:15Z")
Never mind records and CDs and hard drives. I’m amazed by digital music. A little piece of plastic and metal the size of my thumbnail holds billions of 1s and 0s, and another chip inside my phone basically runs a program to reassemble those 1s and 0s into audible sound with no moving parts involved in the whole operation. I’m even more amazed by playing videos on my phone. Our first color TV 50 years ago sat in a huge wooden cabinet that took up a lot of space. Add a box the size of a 1980s VCR. Today I can fit a device that does much the same thing into my pocket, and it takes movies, too. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954/30 "2018-01-19T17:57:33Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Half the point of science is that, ultimately, we don’t have to define the nature of things. We just have to define their _behaviour_. It doesn’t matter whether electricity is the result of moving charged particles, or the will of the gods, or aetheric transfers, or whatever… as long as we can show that it follows predictable and understandable rules. > > Now, a definition of the nature of something may help in figuring out further applications of it, so it is by no means useless, but that’s a second-level benefit. The core of science is observing behaviour. So you agree that magnets are magic? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954/31 "2018-01-19T18:45:24Z")
Lately, I’d been working on a 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle, and on a lark, set up my tripod on top of the table with a mount for my phone, so that every time I fit a piece, I could take a photograph. Well, a few days ago, my phone gives me a helpful notification telling me that my photo animation is ready. Which is of course exactly what I intended to do with those 2000 pictures, but I never told my phone that. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954/32 "2018-01-19T19:22:29Z")
> [@GaryM](#): > > “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Arthur C. Clark “Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.” Clark C. Arthur ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954/33 "2018-01-19T19:35:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Lately, I’d been working on a 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle, and on a lark, set up my tripod on top of the table with a mount for my phone, so that every time I fit a piece, I could take a photograph. Well, a few days ago, my phone gives me a helpful notification telling me that my photo animation is ready. Which is of course exactly what I intended to do with those 2000 pictures, but I never told my phone that. Google Photos does that kind of thing all the time. Hey, if they want to spend cpu time -on _their_ servers - analysing my photos and coming up with cool collages, movies etc for me to see, I’m happy for them to do so. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954/34 "2018-01-19T20:08:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Lately, I’d been working on a 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle, and on a lark, set up my tripod on top of the table with a mount for my phone, so that every time I fit a piece, I could take a photograph. Well, a few days ago, my phone gives me a helpful notification telling me that my photo animation is ready. Which is of course exactly what I intended to do with those 2000 pictures, but I never told my phone that. That makes me think of panorama apps that I have on my phone. I used to try making panoramas with my “real” camera but even using Photoshop’s panorama tool the results were unsatisfying. But the modern apps sense the movement of the phone, take the photos, and stitch them together automatically. One of them even records the compass directions as you are taking the photos and allow you to “play back” the panorama in the proper spatial position as you rotate the camera around. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954/35 "2018-01-19T22:04:22Z")
> [@GaryM](#): > > “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Arthur C. Clark I think he plagiarized that quote from Arthur C. Clarke. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954/36 "2018-01-19T22:13:04Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Never mind records and CDs and hard drives. I’m amazed by digital music. A little piece of plastic and metal the size of my thumbnail holds billions of 1s and 0s, and another chip inside my phone basically runs a program to reassemble those 1s and 0s into audible sound with no moving parts involved in the whole operation. I remember programming line printers to play music. And there were some programs for my C64 to play some Bach on the speakers, very tinnily. Now I’ve got maybe 150 CDs in my phone. But memory is the thing that amazes me, still. In high school I learned to program on an LGP-21 with 4k of rotating memory - 32 bit words, at least. My PDP-11 in grad school had 20K of core, real core, but we each got a disk pack to put into the washing machine sized disk drive. The C64 had 64K of memory - amazing. When I worked at Bell Labs I took a demo luggable Sun clone home over Christmas break, with I think 100 Meg of disk, which seemed like an awful lot. When I worked at Intel we could request disk space in 1 Gig chunks. I have a 32 G thumb drive sitting near me, bought at Costco for almost nothing. And when I retired my data collection system had filled up 3 terabyte disks. And it was growing. When I was a senor Ed Fredkin, head of Project MAC at the time, came in to offer the crazy prediction that some day memory would be a penny a bit. Slightly cheaper now. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954/37 "2018-01-19T22:33:09Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > … micron(?) sized pits in a piece of plastic … What universe are you living in? IC are currently (npi) made on a substrate of glass, not plastic, and have been for decades. The latest common SoCs are etched in a 10nm process: that is one hundredth of a μm. I have heard it said that your average smartphone has more practical power and capacity in it than just about the entirety of the US in aggregate around 1980. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954/38 "2018-01-19T22:37:27Z")
I’m still gobsmacked that I can undock my laptop and walk to a meeting and it still works and everything is still there for me to access in this tiny light machine. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954/39 "2018-01-19T22:39:25Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > What universe are you living in? IC are currently (npi) made on a substrate of glass, not plastic, and have been for decades. The latest common SoCs are etched in a 10nm process: that is one hundredth of a μm. I have heard it said that your average smartphone has more practical power and capacity in it than just about the entirety of the US in aggregate around 1980. I was talking about CDs since **Procrustus** was referring to LPs. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954/40 "2018-01-19T23:24:37Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > But memory is the thing that amazes me, still. And every time the PCs get more memory or storage space, the damned programmers figure out how to use it all up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astounded-by-tech/806954.md?page=3)