WEBVTT - TechStuff Looks Inside the Black Box 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to Text Stuff, a production from my Heart Radio. 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:15.160 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:18.840 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio, 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:22.880 and I love all things tech and today I thought 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:26.279 it was a good time to take another opportunity to 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:29.760 chat about one of the subjects. I really hammer her 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:33.479 home in this series, and I don't make any apologies 0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:37.920 for this. It is not about convergence though long time 0:00:38.040 --> 0:00:40.720 listeners of tech Stuff know that for years that was 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:46.400 my favorite trend to cover. It's about critical thinking. So yeah, 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:50.640 this is another critical thinking in Technology episode. Now. In 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:54.600 these episodes, I explain how taking time and really thinking 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:57.840 through things is important so that we make the most 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:01.760 informed decisions we can and so that we aren't either 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:05.919 fooling ourselves or you know, allowing someone else to fool 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:09.240 us when it comes to technology. Though, I'll tell you 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:12.399 a secret, using these skills in all parts of your 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:15.080 life is a great idea because it can be really 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:17.399 easy for us to fall into patterns where we let 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:22.240 ourselves believe things just because it's convenient or you know, 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:25.920 it reaffirms our biases are prejudices, that kind of thing. 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:30.560 So if you use critical thinking beyond the realm of technology. 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:35.160 I ain't gonna be mad. Specifically, I wanted to talk 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:40.119 about a general category of issues in tech that some 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:44.080 refer to as the black box problem. Now, this is 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:48.520 not the same thing as the black box that's on 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:52.840 board your typical airplane. In fact, i'll explain what that 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:55.840 is first because it's pretty simple, and then we can 0:01:55.880 --> 0:02:01.280 move on. First, the black box inside airplanes is typically orange. 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:04.760 So right off the bat, we have a problem with nomenclature, right, 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:09.600 I mean, you had one job black box. Actually that's 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:12.000 that's not true. The black box has a very important 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:14.639 job and it requires a couple of things to work. 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:18.960 But the black box, which is orange, is all about 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:22.720 maintaining a record of an aircraft's activities in a housing 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:27.960 capable of withstanding tremendous punishment. Another name, or a a 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:31.480 more appropriate name really for this device, for the black box, 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:35.880 is the flight data recorder. Sensors in various parts of 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:39.520 the plane detect changes and then send data to the 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:45.080 flight data recorder, which you know, records them. If a 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:48.679 pilot makes any adjustments to any controls, whether it's the 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:51.520 flight stick or a knob or a button or a 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:55.200 switch or whatever. The control not only does whatever it 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:58.880 was intended to do, assuming everything's in working order, but 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:02.120 it also sends us signal that is recorded on the 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:04.880 flight recorder. So the job of the flight recorder is 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:08.600 to create as accurate a representation of what went on 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:13.800 with that aircraft as is possible. The Federal Aviation Administration 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:16.280 or f a A in the United States has a 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:19.359 long list of parameters that the flight recorder is supposed 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:22.840 to keep track of, more than eighty in fact, and 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:25.720 these include not just the aircraft systems, but what was 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:28.800 going on in the environment. So if a pilot encounters 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:32.800 a problem on a flight, or in a worst case scenario, 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:36.080 in the event of a crash, the flight recorder represents 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:40.440 an opportunity to find out what actually went wrong. You know, 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:44.040 was it a malfunction, was it pilot error, was it 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:49.240 whether the crash survivable? Memory units inside the heavy duty 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:53.000 casing of the black box are really meant to act 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:56.560 as a lasting record, So if the recorder is recoverable, 0:03:56.800 --> 0:04:00.480 it gives investigators a chance to find out what happened. But, 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:03.920 as I said, that's not the black box I really 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:06.520 wanted to talk about for today's episode, so I'm not 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:09.560 going to go into any more detail about that. Now, 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:12.600 you could argue that the black box I want to 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:15.200 talk about is sort of the opposite of what we 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:19.520 find in airplanes, because in an airplane, the black box 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:22.919 contains a record of everything that has gone on, and 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:26.600 it can help explain why a certain outcome has happened. 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:30.520 In technology in general, we use the term black box 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:33.600 to refer to a system or technology where we know 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:36.800 what goes into it and we can see what comes 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:39.479 out of it, but we have no idea of what 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:42.640 went on in the middle of that process. We don't 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:45.599 have a way to understand the process by which the 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:50.320 device takes input and produces output. Now, in most cases, 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:55.880 we're not talking about an instance where literally nobody understands 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:59.479 what's going on with a device or a system. It's 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:03.680 more like the creators of whatever system we're talking about 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:07.840 have purposefully made it difficult or impossible for the average 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:12.039 person to understand or in some cases, even see what 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:16.720 a technology is doing. Sometimes it's intentional, sometimes it's not. 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:19.839 So Maybe purposefully is being a little strong there, but 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:24.000 that's often how it unfolds. Let's take a general example 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:28.360 that has created issues with a particular subsection of tech heads, 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:31.120 and those would be the gear heads, you know, the 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:34.320 people who love to work on vehicles like motorcycles and 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:37.839 cars and trucks and stuff, and what you might think 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:40.880 of as the good old days, at least from the 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:44.719 perspective of d I Y technology. There's plenty of other 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:47.400 things that were wrong back then, but in those terms, 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:52.000 the cars systems were pretty darn accessible. The motorist would 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:54.800 need to spend time and effort to learn how the 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:57.920 car worked and what each component was meant to do, 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:01.479 but that was actually in a evable goal. So with 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:04.240 a bit of study and some hands on work, you 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:07.320 could suss out how an engine works. You know, how 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:11.120 spark plugs cause a little explosion by igniting a mixture 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:15.080 of fuel and air inside an engine's cylinders, How that 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:18.359 explosion would force out a piston which connects to a 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:21.680 crank shaft, and how that reciprocating motion of the piston 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:24.960 would translate into rotational motion of the crank shaft that 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:29.039 could then be transmitted ultimately to wheels. Through transmission, you 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:33.200 could learn what the carburetor does, how the various fans 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:35.640 and belts work, and what they do you know where 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:38.000 the oil pan is and how to change out oil 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:40.680 and all that kind of stuff. What's more, you can 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:45.160 make repairs yourself. If you had the tools, the replacement parts, 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:49.000 and the knowledge and the time you could swap out parts. 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:52.240 You could customize your vehicle. You know, I've known a 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:55.560 lot of people who have taken on cars as projects. 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:58.839 They'll purchase an old junker and then they will lovingly 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:02.000 restore it to its former glory or turn it into 0:07:02.080 --> 0:07:06.480 something truly transformational. And all of that is possible because 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:12.080 those old cars had really accessible systems. They were relatively 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:16.560 simple electro mechanical systems. Once you understood how they worked, 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:19.360 you could see how they worked or how they were 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:22.880 supposed to work, and you could understand what was going on. 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:26.920 Through that understanding, you could address stuff when things weren't 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:31.000 going well. And that's how cars were for decades. But 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:35.040 that began to change in the late nineteen sixties. But 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:40.640 it really accelerated. Uh No, pun intended in the nineteen seventies. 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:45.960 So what happened well in nineteen sixty eight, leading into 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:50.240 nineteen sixty nine, Volkswagen introduced a new standard feature for 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:54.360 their Type three vehicle, which was sometimes called the Volkswagen 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:56.680 fifteen hundred or sixteen hundred. There are a couple of 0:07:56.800 --> 0:08:00.200 names for it. These were family cars, and volkswagen Is 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:03.400 intent was to create a vehicle with a bit more 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:07.280 luggage and passenger space than their type one, which was 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:12.280 also known as the Volkswagen Beetle. The feature for these 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:14.600 cars that I wanted to talk about was an electronic 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:18.400 fuel injection system that was controlled by a computer chip, 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:22.440 and the marketing for the this particular feature said that 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:28.000 this quote electronic brain end quote was quote smarter than 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:31.680 a carburetor end quote. Now, the purpose of a carburetor 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:35.160 is to mix fuel with air at a ratio that 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:39.520 is suitable for combustion inside the engine cylinders. But an 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:43.040 engine doesn't need exactly the same ratio of fuel to 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:46.280 air from moment to moment. It actually varies. As a 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:50.360 vehicle runs longer, or it travels faster, or it starts 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:53.200 climbing a steep hill, or you know, lots of stuff, 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:57.439 the ratio changes somewhat, and the carburetor manages this with 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:00.640 a couple of valves, one called the choke, another called 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:04.280 the throttle, among other elements. But it's all mechanical and 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:07.640 while it works, it's not as precise as an electronic 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:11.160 system could be. And that's where the Volkswagen system came in. 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:15.520 Volkswagen was pushing this as a more efficient and useful 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:19.200 component than a carburetor. It would prevent the engine from 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:22.800 being flooded with fuel and not enough air for combustion. 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:26.240 It would handle the transitions of fuel and air mix 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:30.400 ratios more quickly and precisely. It was the start of 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:35.400 something big, but were it not for some other external factors, 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:38.000 it might not have taken off the way it did, 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:40.840 or at least not as quickly as it did. Those 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:44.440 other factors, as I said, were external, and there were 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:48.839 a pair of doozies. One was a growing concern that 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:52.360 burning fossil fuels was having a negative impact on the environment, 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:56.079 which turned out to be absolutely the case. Cities like 0:09:56.160 --> 0:10:00.440 Los Angeles, California, where getting around pretty much re buyers 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:05.400 having a car, we're dealing with some really serious smog problems, 0:10:05.840 --> 0:10:09.800 and so organizations like the Environmental Protection Agency in the 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:14.319 United States began to draft requirements to reduce car emissions. 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:17.880 That would mean that automotive companies would have to create 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:22.679 more efficient engine systems. The other major factor that contributed 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:26.360 to this was the oil crisis of the nineties seventies, 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:29.079 which I talked about not long ago in a different 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:33.520 Tech Stuff podcast. This was a geopolitical problem that threw 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:36.520 much of the world into a scramble to curb fossil 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:41.840 fuel consumption because the supply was limited. The double whammy 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:46.280 of environmental concerns and the oil crisis forced a lot 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:51.240 of car companies to rethink their previous strategy, which was 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:55.160 pretty much more power, make bigger, much fast, go go, go, 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:59.320 go guzzle. That kind of is how they were thinking 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:02.360 back in the day. Turns out that was an unsustainable option. 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:06.640 And if you look back, especially at American cars during 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:09.880 the fifties and sixties, you see that trend of the 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:13.880 engines getting bigger and more powerful, and that was just 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:17.800 the way things were going until we started to see 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:22.120 these external changes come in, and so more car companies 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:27.120 began to incorporate computer controlled fuel injection systems. But this 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:30.840 move also marked a move away from the design that 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:33.080 made it, you know, harder for the d I Y 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:37.120 crowd to work on cars. Working on a damaged carburetor 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:41.880 was one thing. Dealing with a malfunctioning computer chip was another. 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:45.240 It didn't fall into the typical skill set of your 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:49.000 amateur mechanic. And of course we didn't stop at computer 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:52.640 controlled fuel injection systems. Over time, we saw a lot 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:56.720 more automotive systems make the transition to computer control. Today, 0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:59.960 your average car has computer systems that control the engine 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:05.200 and the transmission, the doors, entertainment system, the windows, and 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:09.840 these systems are all individual and they have a name. 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:14.960 They're called electronic control units or e c USE. Collectively, 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:20.320 they form the controller area network or can c a N. 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:24.760 The connections themselves, the physical connections are called the can 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:28.040 bus b US, and that's really just a way of 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:30.760 saying these are the physical connectors that allow data to 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:34.800 pass from one e c U to another. And there 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:38.080 wasn't really like a central processing unit or anything. There 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:41.640 was no like central brain. It was more like ec 0:12:41.880 --> 0:12:46.760 use that depend upon one another would send relevant information 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:51.320 to each other and not to anything else. So you know, 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:54.679 if the door sensor is showing a door is open, 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:58.679 it can send an alert to other systems so that 0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:02.880 that information is is appropriately dealt with. Now, at the 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:07.400 same time that these individual systems were evolving, so too 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:10.640 we saw the rise of what would become the onboard 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:14.360 diagnostic system or o b D, and the o b 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:17.280 D keeps an eye on what's going on with the 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:21.160 various systems in the car, and it sends notifications to 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:25.120 the driver via dashboard indicators when something is outside normal 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:31.040 operating parameters. So let's say that this diagnosis computer picks 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:34.200 up that there's something hinky happening with the fuel air 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:37.680 mixture and it activates that pesky check engine light on 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:40.840 the dashboard that gives you next to no useful information. 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:45.079 The problem is that these days it can be challenging 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:49.240 or sometimes impossible to figure out exactly what caused that 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:52.640 check engine light to come on without the access to 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:56.880 some special equipment and expertise. The car systems have become 0:13:56.960 --> 0:13:59.720 so sophisticated that it could be a challenge to figure 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:04.640 out what exactly has gone awry. Mechanics use devices called 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:07.680 O b D scan tools, and these tools connect to 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:11.240 the computer on board a car, and then the car 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:15.040 provides a an error code to the scanner. This, by 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:17.920 the way, took a long time to standardize because you've 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:20.040 got a lot of different car companies out there, and 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:23.960 obviously there was a need to move towards standardization so 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:27.680 that you didn't have to have fifty different scan tools 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:30.800 and fifty different code charts to deal with all the 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:34.440 different car companies. But the code corresponds to the specific 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:37.840 issue the O B D has detected. So not only 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:41.440 do you need a special piece of equipment to diagnose 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:43.800 what has gone wrong with the car, you also need 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:47.480 to know the codes, or else you haven't really learned anything. 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:52.080 If I get you know, a eight digit code, and 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:54.240 I don't know what that code refers to, then I'm 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:56.280 not really any better off than just looking at a 0:14:56.360 --> 0:14:59.360 check engine light. On top of all of that, even 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:02.080 if you know what is wrong, you might not be 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:05.400 able to easily access the problem or fix it due 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:10.160 to the level of complexity, sophistication, and computerization of vehicles. 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:15.040 Not all cars, or motorcycles or or whatever are equal. Obviously, 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:18.200 some are a bit easier to work on than others. 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:21.840 Some require a lot of specific care though. For example, 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:24.920 if you're driving a Tesla, chances are the amount of 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:27.880 personal tinkering you're going to do on your car is 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:31.720 going to be fairly limited. Now I'm not saying it's impossible, 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:36.480 just that it's really challenging. So in general, we've seen 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:40.640 cars go from a mechanical system or electro mechanical system 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:44.160 that the average person can understand and work on, to 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:49.320 a group of interconnected, specialized computer systems that are increasingly 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:52.960 difficult to access. The cars have become a type of 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:57.600 black box. This can be extra frustrating for gear heads 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:02.280 who have actually an understanding of underlying mechanical issues that 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:04.960 could cause problems. They might even know how to solve 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:08.280 an issue if they can just get to it, but 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:12.120 they are finding themselves with fewer options in order to 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:16.920 address underlying issues. Now, cars are just one example of 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:21.960 technologies that have moved toward a black box like system. 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:24.880 There are lots of others. But apart from making it 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:27.960 harder to tinker with your tech, what's the problem. But 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:30.280 when we come back, I'll talk about some of the 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:34.280 pitfalls of turning tech into a black box. But first 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:45.560 let's take a quick break. We're back. So the car 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:49.960 transformed from a purely electro mechanical technology to one that 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:54.360 increasingly relies on computer systems. But the computer itself can 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:58.280 also be something of a black box for people none 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:01.520 the very early days of the personal computer. It was 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:04.720 hobbyists who were ordering kits through the mail and then 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:09.359 building computers at home. Typically, these hobbyists had a working 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:12.520 understanding of how the computer systems operated, you know, the 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:16.440 actual way in which they would accept inputs and process 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:21.800 information and then produce outputs. Before high level programming languages, 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:25.600 programmers also had to kind of think like a computer 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:29.040 in order to program them to carry out functions. As 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:33.280 computer languages became more high level, meaning there was a 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:37.760 layer of abstraction between the programmer and the actual processes 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:40.360 that were going on at the hardware level of the computer, 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:45.040 that connection began to get more tenuous. Now, I'm not 0:17:45.160 --> 0:17:49.119 saying that programmers today don't have a real understanding of 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:53.600 how computers work, but rather that this understanding is less 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:58.960 critical because programming languages, computer engines, app developer kits you know, 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:02.680 software developer kits and so on, provide a framework that 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:07.199 reduces the amount of low level work programmers need to 0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:10.919 do in order to build stuff as software. For the 0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:13.920 average user, you know, someone who isn't learned in the 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:19.160 ways of computer science, computers are pretty much black boxes. 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:24.080 They work until they don't. You push buttons on a keyboard, 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:26.520 or you click on a mouse, or you touch a screen, 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:30.119 and you know, the computer does the stuff how it 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:33.679 does stuff like how it detects a screen touch and 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:37.520 then translates that into a command that is then executed 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:40.920 to produce a specific result. You know, that's not important 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:44.359 to us. We don't care or need to know how 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:47.639 that works in order to enjoy the benefits of it. 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:51.119 So for us, it's just the way things are. You 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:54.640 push that button and this thing happens. It just does. 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:58.000 The black box of the computer system, which can be 0:18:58.040 --> 0:19:02.080 a desktop, a laptop, tab, smartphone, video game console, you 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:05.440 know whatever. It just takes care of what we needed 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:09.440 to do. That's not to say a computer is impenetrably 0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:13.160 a black box. You can learn how they work, and 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:17.040 how programming languages work and so on. Computer science and 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:20.919 programming classes are all built around that. So while a 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:25.240 computer system is effectively a black box to the average user, 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:29.560 it wasn't made that way by design, and it can 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:32.920 be addressed on a case by case basis, depending on 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:36.520 the time, the interest of the individual computer user, and 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:41.040 their dedication to learning. But sometimes people will set out 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:44.639 to make technologies with the intent of them being black 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:48.520 boxes from the get go. These technologies are dependent in 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:52.040 part or in whole on of view skating how they work, 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:56.560 in other words, by obscuring it. Sometimes that's in an 0:19:56.560 --> 0:20:00.800 effort to protect an invention from copycats, the whole idea 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:03.439 being that if you come up with something really clever, 0:20:04.040 --> 0:20:07.160 you don't want someone else to come along, lift that 0:20:07.280 --> 0:20:09.720 idea and do the same thing you are doing, but 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:12.720 selling it for you know, less money or something. But 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:17.440 other times you might be hiding how something works, specifically 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:21.199 with the intent to deceive. And now it's time to 0:20:21.320 --> 0:20:25.480 look much further back than the nineteen sixties. It was 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:29.960 seventeen seventy in Europe. As the story goes, the European 0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:33.399 world had seen a great deal of advancement in mechanical 0:20:33.480 --> 0:20:37.880 clockwork devices. At that point. Clocks themselves, often powered by 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:42.359 winding a spring and keeping time using gears with a 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:46.440 reliable and consistent basis that was much better than earlier methods. 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:51.040 Even allowed people the ability to carry a time keeping 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:56.840 device with them. Phenomenal Based on similar principles, various tinkerers 0:20:56.840 --> 0:20:59.800 had come up with toys and distractions that also ran 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:04.880 on clockwork, like gears and springs. Some of these were 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:09.919 quite elaborate, such as figures that appeared to play musical instruments, 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:14.399 and one of them was particularly impressive. It appeared to 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:19.920 be an automaton that could play expert level chess. The figure, 0:21:20.200 --> 0:21:24.159 made out of wood, was dressed in Turkish costume, leading 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:28.920 to it being called the Turk, or sometimes the mechanical Turk. 0:21:29.840 --> 0:21:33.119 If you were to sit down to play against the Turk, 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:36.840 you as an opponent, would move a piece and then 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:40.199 you would watch as this mechanical figure would shift and 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:43.040 move a piece of its own in response. And the 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:47.480 Turk was a pretty good chess player. It frequently beat 0:21:47.560 --> 0:21:51.960 the opponents at face. Sometimes it would lose to particularly 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:55.680 strong players, but it held its own pretty darn well. 0:21:56.240 --> 0:22:00.920 The man behind this invention was Wolfgang Fawn Kimplin, who 0:22:01.000 --> 0:22:04.359 was in the service of Maria Teresa, Empress of the 0:22:04.400 --> 0:22:07.919 Holy Roman Empire. He had been invited to view a 0:22:07.960 --> 0:22:11.720 magician's performance in the court, so the story goes, and 0:22:12.000 --> 0:22:15.400 the Empress had invited him specifically and afterwards asked him 0:22:15.400 --> 0:22:18.800 what he thought, and allegedly he boasted he could create 0:22:18.840 --> 0:22:22.919 a much more compelling illusion than anything this magician did. Now, 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:26.360 according to the story. The Empress essentially said, oh yeah, 0:22:26.560 --> 0:22:30.080 we'll prove it buster, and he was given six months 0:22:30.119 --> 0:22:33.560 to do just that. The turk was what he had 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:36.240 to show for it in six months time, and it 0:22:36.359 --> 0:22:41.200 reportedly went over like gang Busters. The wooden turk stood 0:22:41.240 --> 0:22:44.920 behind a cabinet, on top of which was the chessboard, 0:22:45.280 --> 0:22:49.439 and Kimplin would reportedly open the cabinet doors and reveal 0:22:49.640 --> 0:22:53.200 some gears and mechanics to prove that it was purely 0:22:53.359 --> 0:22:58.320 a mechanical system. In fact, the gears were masking a 0:22:58.400 --> 0:23:02.040 hidden compartment behind them, in which a human chess player 0:23:02.560 --> 0:23:06.560 was sitting inside, hunched over, keeping track of a game, 0:23:06.920 --> 0:23:09.960 using a smaller chessboard in front of them, and using 0:23:10.040 --> 0:23:14.720 various levers to move the turk's limbs in response. Now, 0:23:14.840 --> 0:23:18.720 a lot of folks suspected that something was up from 0:23:18.840 --> 0:23:21.520 the get go, but you know, part of the fun 0:23:22.040 --> 0:23:25.960 of a magic trick is just not knowing what's going on. 0:23:26.600 --> 0:23:29.920 Some folks try very hard to figure out the process. 0:23:29.960 --> 0:23:32.879 I am not one of them. Others are just happy 0:23:32.920 --> 0:23:36.439 to be entertained by a very well performed trick. But 0:23:36.520 --> 0:23:39.760 in a way, the turk was a kind of black box. 0:23:40.280 --> 0:23:42.880 In fact, you could argue that a lot of magic 0:23:42.880 --> 0:23:47.480 tricks pretty much fall into the black box category. The 0:23:47.720 --> 0:23:51.600 process is purposefully hidden from the viewer. If we could 0:23:51.640 --> 0:23:54.760 see what the magician was doing from beginning to end, 0:23:55.400 --> 0:23:59.679 all the way through and without any misdirection, then it 0:23:59.720 --> 0:24:03.600 would and be magic. We might admire the skill of 0:24:03.640 --> 0:24:06.439 the magician how quickly they were able to do things, 0:24:07.119 --> 0:24:11.880 but we wouldn't really consider it magical. So the output 0:24:11.920 --> 0:24:15.879 is dependent upon people not knowing the process the inputs 0:24:16.240 --> 0:24:18.919 went through. Now that's not to say that you can 0:24:19.000 --> 0:24:21.280 appreciate a really good magic trick even if you know 0:24:21.320 --> 0:24:23.719 how it's done. One of the best examples I know 0:24:23.840 --> 0:24:28.080 of is Penn and Teller. They did a phenomenal version 0:24:28.320 --> 0:24:32.240 of the cups and balls routine where they used clear 0:24:32.400 --> 0:24:37.840 plastic cups and balls of aluminum foil to demonstrate how 0:24:38.080 --> 0:24:41.600 cups and balls works, and you can watch the entire 0:24:41.680 --> 0:24:44.640 time and even being able to see through the cups 0:24:44.680 --> 0:24:47.920 and see the moves they're being made, Teller does them 0:24:47.920 --> 0:24:51.760 with such skill that it is truly phenomenal. It doesn't 0:24:51.920 --> 0:24:55.199 hurt that Penn is spouting off a lot of nonsense 0:24:55.240 --> 0:24:58.320 at the same time and misdirecting even as you're watching 0:24:58.359 --> 0:25:01.360 what's going on, I highly recommend you check it out 0:25:01.400 --> 0:25:04.040 on YouTube. Look for pen and teller cups and balls. 0:25:04.480 --> 0:25:08.760 You won't be disappointed. Now. The Turk, as far as 0:25:08.800 --> 0:25:12.800 I can tell, was always intended to be an entertainment, 0:25:13.400 --> 0:25:17.640 not necessarily something that was specifically meant to perpetuate some 0:25:17.760 --> 0:25:21.800 sort of hoax. You wouldn't call a stage magician a 0:25:21.920 --> 0:25:25.400 huckster or a con man or anything like that. Their 0:25:25.440 --> 0:25:30.760 occupation is dependent upon misdirection and making impossible acts seem 0:25:30.840 --> 0:25:35.760 like they really happened, but always or nearly always with 0:25:35.880 --> 0:25:39.480 the implication that it's all an illusion or a trick 0:25:39.600 --> 0:25:43.199 of some sort. But not everyone is quite so forthcoming 0:25:43.240 --> 0:25:46.280