For me, it's kind of the default state of mind, building models of reality, and I can go as far as doing it unconsciously. Just a few hours ago I was in a frien

For me, it's kind of the default state of mind, building models of reality, and I can go as far as doing it unconsciously. Just a few hours ago I was in a friend's office talking to him about 3D models and through no conscious decision of mine I started twiddling around with a perforator. The point where I realized what my purpose had been was when I broke the flow of the conversation with the complete non-sequitur, "oh, now I know what that twiddly part on a spring does - you pull it and lock the perforator making it more compact". I know other people that do that too. For some of us, the immediate reaction to a new thing is "ooh, shiny, how does it work? Let's run some experiments." The scientific mindset is useful, I think, no matter what you wish to exploit.