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Ask HN: What technology seems like magic to you?
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. - Arthur C. Clarke
- o_nate 4y agoAirplanes. Seriously I don't know of any other technology that feels as magical to me as that feeling when an airplane leaves the ground.
- gradschool 4y agoMe too. According to the the way it's always explained to me it should be impossible for airplanes to fly upside down sustainably because the force of gravity and the lift should add to each other rather than cancelling, yet they often seem to do that in air shows.
- 2143 4y agoNot technology as such, but here goes: 1. Stock market. I just don't get it, beyond a superficial understanding. 2. Oil futures market. My brain just melts trying to make sense of it.
- incomingpain 4y agoI have now 3 times attempted to research and understand quantum computing. I know assembly for my nop sleds, so I'm ahead of the curve knowing how silicon works. I just don't get QC. It's magic.
- Raed667 4y agoHave you seen this thread? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33481232 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33481232
- incomingpain 4y agoI have not, thanks I'll check it out.
- llamaLord 4y agoI think the general consensus is that "If you say you understand QC, obviously don't".
- trh0awayman 4y agoCPU fabrication
- marto1 4y agoCapillary action. Still doesn't make any sense to me.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- shrimp_emoji 4y agoQuantum computing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsch%E2%80%93Jozsa_algorithm#Problem_statement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsch%E2%80%93Jozsa_algorith... This seems like violating info theoretic limits, like being able to read a whole book by only reading a single letter, by sprinkling quantum lingo over the problem.
- dtagames 4y agoGithub Copilot feels like magic when it correctly copies or implies things from code that I just wrote. Or when it auto-completes with my own names/functions/etc. Essentially, it types what I was just about to type 90% of the time.
- aizyuval 4y agoTelescopes generally. James Webb specifically. Being able to marvel at objects light years away, and having (large) glimpses to the past. A time machine aswell as a teleporter.
- guenthert 4y agoOrgan transplantation. Cutting it out of the donor (without killing him/her) seems like advanced science and skill, but plugging it into the receiver so that it works is pure magic.
- lnwlebjel 4y agoBrains. We have essentially the same neurons, same transmitters, same proteins, etc. as a fruit fly. But for every one they have, we have 100 million. Emergent characteristics are like magic.
- night-rider 4y agoBooting any form of computer. It's a miracle each time, and taken for granted that it works every time too. I used to have machines that failed to boot, usually due to plain wear and tear, but I get a new device roughly every ~5 years so it's a non-issue now.
- hayst4ck 4y agoI didn't do this, but I took a pretty similar class (I think): https://www.nand2tetris.org/ https://www.nand2tetris.org/ It is truly enlightening to see both how incredibly simple and incredibly complex computers are. Of all the classes I ever took, nothing ever blew my mind like that. Building your own processor and taking an operating systems course really builds an appreciation for the giants shoulders we stand on.
- scombridae 4y agoGoogle search. How so fast? Google autocomplete. How so accurate? Good job Google!
- solardev 4y agoElectricity. I still don't get why you can connect copper to sand and lemons and end up with bright things and video games. It's all a mystery to me.
- scombridae 4y agoHow an office printer manages to pick out a single sheet from the tray.
- mradek 4y agoPlumbing. I’m from a developing country and when I moved to USA the plumbing here makes me feel super impressed. Somehow it works.