What's Inside the Black Box?

Technology is all around us today, and for most of us, the inner workings are incomprehensible. What you might not know is that most of the inner workings are incomprehensible to even the people who designed them. That's because modern technology is the result of collective intelligence, where one person may make a significant contribution, but doesn't know and doesn't need to know how the complete system works. We get great technology by compartmentalizing complex technological challenges. One guy figures out how a certain input generates a specific output. Once that's done, everyone can use it. The inner workings can remain unknown to everyone else. It's what's known as a "black box". In this book we will examine a number of items you use every day, like your microwave oven, digital camera or automatic transmission. We'll take them apart and see how they work. Then you will know "What's Inside the Black Box"!