Is it just me, or has the world become ridiculously complicated?
Now, I’m a huge fan of the complex: I studied fluid mechanics, whose differential equations are almost as complicated as those fascinating constructions used in physics (my other love). Math was always my favorite subject, especially when it zoomed off into infinite series and tortured integrals and mated with physics to produce understandings of the world that could only exist in numerical form.
Our friend, the Navier-Stokes equation.
Schrodinger’s equation, of the cat fame.I know. Me = geek.
But something has changed from those simple, ancient days in the 80’s and 90’s when I was in graduate school. The world has become more complicated than any one single human can hold in their minds at the same time.
The world has always been complicated, but it used to be that one could understand how the phone worked – I mean actually worked, not just how to make a call – without needing advanced degrees in microelectronics. Now the manual to use the phone resembles a miniature phone book, and the phone books themselves exist mostly on the interwebs.
My husband spent the weekend recreationally writing code to print out rocket designs, because the boy is serious about his rocket building hobby. (I know. Hubby = geek, too.) He commented how it was fun because it was challenging, yet simple compared to his work at the office designing software to run the latest high tech water softener. He was lamenting that the code had gotten so complex he could no longer hold all the options for it in his head at the same time. We’re not talking Windows 7 here, people. We’re talking code for a household appliance.
The idea that sufficiently advanced technology is the same as magic, is not new (thank you, Arthur C. Clarke). However, I never expected to be one of the peasants, in awe of the latest gift from the gods. And when the technorati themselves are baffled by their own creations … well, it starts to sound like one of those sci-fi dystopias that sent shivers down my back as a youngster.
How does this relate to books? I wonder if the profusion of magic and the fantastic in the last 20 years or so is less a result of the Harry Potter/Twilight fandoms and more an acknowledgement of the reality of our world: the place is freaking amazing! And kind of terrifying. And books have swallowed whole the idea that science is magic, to most of us anyway. So, why bother with the details?
Makes me want to turn luddite and hide in my cave. But there’s no internet there, and I wouldn’t be able to blog, so I guess that’s out.
What do you think, cats and kittens?
Dear Susan,
This is Carl with the Boys Rule! Boys Read! blog. I'm sorry but I accidentally rejected one of your comments this morning when I was eliminating a lot of spam. I think it was the one about the Manly Sweaty Doll Awards. Would you please send it again? Please keep in touch. Yours looks like an interesting blog. BTW, with your love of advanced math, do you ever watch this TV show The Big Bang Theory? You'd love it.
The Big Bang Theory is genius television. I use it as instructional material with my boys – this is how NOT to act around girls. They're young, so I still have hope. 🙂
I'll pop back over and leave my comment again!
I think I need some Tylenol. This post made my brain hurt! 🙂
Oops! Yeah, major geeking out on my part. Sorry! We will return to our normally scheduled programming tommorrow!
Okay so i didn't get a head ache because i avoidedd letting the mathy stuff sink in. But my husband= geek also, which means there are a lot of geeky things that are needed in adult life and he has spoiled me so completely I never learned them. Ugh!
I'm a different kind of geek, but I'm with you and my latest WIP has a very big geeky overchiever and I posted an excerpt for the Whoops blog fest and I would love some advice on making sure she has all the elments of a girl who knows her Math and Science.
I'd be happy to exchange?
A a former (extremely former) YA, who was a geek even then, I would be happy to consult on that! And a swap sounds terrific. Email me at susan(dot)quinn(at)comcast(dot)net!
I have to agree with your post, which by chance further advances my postion that physicists should be the next vampires. haha
My husband listened to a presentation on nanotechnology last year that scared the daylights out of him. Differential equations, fluid mechanics…that takes me way back. I wonder if it is somewhere lodged inside my brain because I am certain I don't remember much from my classes. I liked IC engines better than fluids.
BC – Nano tech can be very creepy. My dissertation work was all about aerosols (tiny particles and how they are formed), and that was when they just started to spell words with atoms. Now they're building tiny machines that might one day scour your bloodstream for viruses, like white bloodcells – cool and major freaky.
Somehow the IC engines were never my gig – maybe because my Dad always had his head stuck under the hood! 🙂 Fluid mechanics is wicked hard, but it gets cool when stuff starts to burn. Supersonic scramjet engines, high speed aircraft engines, and of course ROCKETS! That was where fluids got fun for me.
What was your major – Mechanical?