Ask HN: What technology seems like magic to you? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What technology seems like magic to you?

13 pointsRaed66720 comments

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. - Arthur C. Clarke

Quantum computing

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.

Airplanes. Seriously I don't know of any other technology that feels as magical to me as that feeling when an airplane leaves the ground.

Me 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.

Github 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.

Organ 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.

Telescopes 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.

Brains. 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.

Electricity. 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.

Booting 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.

I didn't do this, but I took a pretty similar class (I think):

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.

Not 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.

I 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.

Have you seen this thread?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33481232

I have not, thanks I'll check it out.

I think the general consensus is that "If you say you understand QC, obviously don't".

Capillary action. Still doesn't make any sense to me.

Plumbing. I’m from a developing country and when I moved to USA the plumbing here makes me feel super impressed. Somehow it works.

CPU fabrication

How an office printer manages to pick out a single sheet from the tray.

Google search. How so fast?

Google autocomplete. How so accurate?

Good job Google!

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