03.11.08
When the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail
When I look at a machine, I want to know what makes it run. Any time something breaks, I take it apart to learn how it works and see if it can be fixed. The plastic-stamped phrase “Contains no user-serviceable parts” is like a siren song. On a pragmatic level, it’s nice to be able to repair things, but that’s not really why I do it. Mostly, I just want to get inside the mind of the person or team that designed it. I think about how I’d solve the problem while I remove screws and coverplates, and then see how it’s actually done.
When I look at a wire, I want to know where it goes. Power lines are my biggest distraction while I drive on the interstate. I try to figure out which wires carry telephone, which wires carry three-phase AC, and which transformers connect high-voltage lines to low-voltage lines. It’s pretty straightforward when you know what to look for. Same for the connecting wires inside electronics — you’ve got the ground plane on the circuit board, capacitors for voltage regulation, silver-printed power lines going to each chip, and hair-thin electrical traces sending digital signals from one chip to another.
When most people look at a machine or piece of electronics, they see a facade of input buttons and they see the obvious function of the device. Most people don’t know or care how anything really works, but understanding the innards of everyday devices opens all sorts of possibilities. Did you know a hard drive can be easily converted into a makeshift audio speaker? Or that a sheet of aluminum foil stuck to a TV screen can be used as a source of power for small devices? Or that digital cameras can see the infrared light used by remotes? There’s an entire world of accidental engineering that can be harnessed for gain or entertainment. When I’m bored during class, I have to fight the urge to take the clock off the wall and reverse the direction it runs. It takes about 5 minutes, a pair of pliers, and some superglue. It makes an incredible prank. (Yeah, I bring that sort of stuff to class — a scout is always prepared.)
I’ve found that there’s a certain threshold of knowledge (about math, physics, electricity, mechanics) that lets you understand entire systems from top to bottom. Things like computers and refineries have so many distinct layers of complexity that few people can really claim to “get” them on every level. Everyone’s a specialist these days, and that works alright, but there’s also a real need for people who can see the big picture. I wish I could say that’s why I do what I do, but in the end, I guess I really just want to know how everything works. I’ll keep taking things apart until I do.