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> If you didn't know radio existed, the whole thing would sound like a bunch of pseudoscientific hokum. I have never looked at it from that angle. Very interes

by krylon 9y ago

> If you didn't know radio existed, the whole thing would sound like a bunch of pseudoscientific hokum. I have never looked at it from that angle. Very interesting thought!

TeMPOraL 9y ago
Radios are magic. I like to reflect on the fact that antennas are basically pieces of metal twisted in funny geometrical patterns. The same metal our ancestors knew thousands of years ago.
- Arcsech 9y ago
  I mean, transistor-based microelectronics are basically just special rocks that we have inscribed with very precise geometrical patterns and feed lightning into in order to make them behave how we want.
  - TeMPOraL 9y ago
    Yeah. As the saying goes, "a CPU is literally a rock we tricked into thinking".
Anthony-G 9y ago
I’ve always thought we live in a magical world. On one level, I understand the physical working of many of the technologies that have been mainstream for most of the past century (television, radio, aeroplanes). On another level, I still find them to be magical and marvel at the achievements of human ingenuity, creativity and labour. This includes so many disparate human endeavours, e.g., the laying of the first trans-Atlantic cable, the speed at which a modern block of offices can be built, weaving technology, the development of a free open source OS (Linux), flying all the way to the moon. I suppose this feeling is a case of Clarke’s third law, Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. On a related note, when my younger (Christian) self read the Bible, I skipped Ecclesiastes and the Book of Psalms as they didn’t appeal to me. Thanks to Maciej’s excellent writing and apt quoting (even though I don’t agree that it was written by an atheist), I think my older (atheist) self might appreciate it better and get more out of it. There is plenty of food for thought in its opening verses: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+1%3A1-11&version=NIV https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+1%...

by krylon 9y ago

> If you didn't know radio existed, the whole thing would sound like a bunch of pseudoscientific hokum. I have never looked at it from that angle. Very interesting thought!

TeMPOraL 9y ago

Radios are magic. I like to reflect on the fact that antennas are basically pieces of metal twisted in funny geometrical patterns. The same metal our ancestors knew thousands of years ago.

Arcsech 9y ago
I mean, transistor-based microelectronics are basically just special rocks that we have inscribed with very precise geometrical patterns and feed lightning into in order to make them behave how we want.
- TeMPOraL 9y ago
  Yeah. As the saying goes, "a CPU is literally a rock we tricked into thinking".

Anthony-G 9y ago

I’ve always thought we live in a magical world. On one level, I understand the physical working of many of the technologies that have been mainstream for most of the past century (television, radio, aeroplanes). On another level, I still find them to be magical and marvel at the achievements of human ingenuity, creativity and labour. This includes so many disparate human endeavours, e.g., the laying of the first trans-Atlantic cable, the speed at which a modern block of offices can be built, weaving technology, the development of a free open source OS (Linux), flying all the way to the moon. I suppose this feeling is a case of Clarke’s third law, Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. On a related note, when my younger (Christian) self read the Bible, I skipped Ecclesiastes and the Book of Psalms as they didn’t appeal to me. Thanks to Maciej’s excellent writing and apt quoting (even though I don’t agree that it was written by an atheist), I think my older (atheist) self might appreciate it better and get more out of it. There is plenty of food for thought in its opening verses: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+1%3A1-11&version=NIV https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+1%...