Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by mathewsanders 1523 days ago
Yes! I had a similar thought: we have the word sonder for the realization that everyone in the world has complex lives, it would be great to have a word that represents the amazing complexity of every single human-made object.

I look around me, and there are hundreds (thousands!) of human-made objects around me, and many of the more complex objects are made of multiple simpler complements themselves (like the projector in the video) and each of these objects likely involved a large group in their initial invention and then even more in their mass production. The invention also relies on previous discoveries.

Every single made object is probably the cumulative effort of hundreds or thousands of people- and even the most simple made object likely has a network of technological advancements and associated people that would be too complex for any single person to comprehend or map.

I would love to watch a documentary of someone picking the most ‘boring’ or simple made object and try to uncover the people and technology required to make it- would be a fascinating watch!