I don’t know if you can call it a “technology” per se, but I’m utterly gobsmacked when I think about what it takes for the local supermarket to maintain full shelves.
So… food production and transportation.
JohnT, have you ever seen the show Food Tech?
No, never heard of it. Where and when?
You might only be able to see it in reruns, probably on the History Channel. There were only maybe 6 episodes.
The host would go to some non-descript restaurant and order a favorite American meal. Cheeseburger and fries, pizza, Chinese food, pancakes and sausage, things like that. Then he’d pull the meal apart and talk about where one item or ingredient came from. He’d go through the whole meal like that.
For instance, the factory that made the bun for the burger gets 5-6 tractor trailors full of flour delivered every day. Or how the lettuce on the burger was hand picked on the other side of the country just 3 days ago. Or just how many oysters go into a bottle of oyster sauce. (Hundreds, believe it or not.)
A typical meal will be handled by hundreds of people all around North America before it hits your plate. It’s quite the amazing infrastucture.
I think you’d like it.
There’s a fascinating book called **The Box **about the history of the shipping container. Modern freight depends on it, but we take it for granted.
Thermostats, particularly the old-style ones with the bimetallic coil and a mercury switch. No power needed, minimal moving parts, and it keeps your whole HVAC system doing just what you ask it to. So simple and effective, yet what a brilliant insight for the first person to think of it.
Yep. Toilets and the sewage system of course. I had to take one out while I remodeling the bathroom and, just for grins, I put it over a hole in the back yard. Perfectly functional! Just pour water in the top. (I didn’t really use it there, but it was tempting.)
Check the first poster’s username.
My original answer was a bit too vague… how about the Piano as a piece of technology that nobody really thinks of as technology?