> there's a certain smugness (and sense of power?) Yes! I have had this idea floating in my head for a while now. At some point opening a can of soda I experie

> there's a certain smugness (and sense of power?) Yes! I have had this idea floating in my head for a while now. At some point opening a can of soda I experienced this wave of humility. Sitting there mindlessly drinking sugar water for the zillionth time and finally realizing the achievement of engineering necessary for that mundane experience. The aluminum is recycled. It's a continuous cycle that obviates the need to clean glassware. Later I learned about the design of the pull tab mechanism. It's pretty sophisticated. It's specifically designed to have two operating states. You usually experience them when opening a can of soda if you're paying attention. It replaced the removable tab that caused littering and slightly sub-optimal recycling efficiency. It's a very subtle design change that likely required massive overhauls in manufacturing equipment.