For example, Let’s say there are parts for a complete automobile engine, would you be able to figure it out, assemble it, and get it running?
Then project this further to a jet engine, then a rocket engine. Knowing that these exist, could you assemble and get them operational?
Now suspend your disbelief in alien life forms for a moment. If you saw alien tech, (and were shown how it operates), do you believe you could reassemble that tech and get it working?
So I've worked in the assembly field for over a decade now. I don't do much of the assembly work myself outside of testing the machines & tools, but I service computers that run stuff like CNC machines, plasma cutters, water jets, lasers, HVAC, etc. There's multiple levels involved in making stuff. Things that I have learned include:
1. Everything breaks. Your car will break, your computer will glitch out, crap just falls apart. It doesn't matter how well-designed it is. The companies who have good reputations have them because they create an illusion not only by doing decent engineering on their products, but also by doing preventative maintenance. You see this in high-end car companies that swing by to pick up your car for service every month & give you a loaner...then you car appears to magically be in perfect working condition all the time. Can you assemble stuff & build stuff & maintain stuff? Sure, if that's where you want to put your time & your focus.
Like in my job, I work on the IT side of things, so I manage the computer, the OS, the backups, the operational performance, etc. But I need a specialist to come in to work on a specific machine who is familiar with all of the quirks & the bugs & whatnot, or a specialist who does the assembly of a machine to get it set up. Complex things typically require a team & requires specialists. If you're just building a Lego set, sure, you can figure it out. If you're trying to build a Tesla from parts, good luck! Complex things have more complex rules of operation associated with them.
On a tangent, I was a big nerd when I first got into computers out of high school. I wanted to get into IT professionally, I wanted to put Linux on everything, I wanted to build my own computers & servers, and I quickly realized that live production had a different set of requirements. Sure, I could build a custom pfSense box & make an amazing firewall...if that's what I wanted to specialize in. Or I could buy a Fortinet hardware firewall & pay someone else to manage it, get the network setup, and move onto other projects - and be able to call tech support as needed to get the specific device I needed operational back to a normal working mode. What I'm trying to say is that doing everything from scratch is fine, if you have unlimited free time & no deadlines & also have interest in doing it, the background in doing it, and the aptitude for doing it. Like, it's hard to build a pfSense box if you don't have any background in building computers from scratch & don't understand the basics of networking to understand how to roll out different types of network setups & rules & filtering & so on. So you need the background for putting specific stuff together as well.
2. I think that clear work instructions are the key to success. It's been said that the two core problems in life boil down to (1) you don't know what you want, and (2) you don't know how to get it. Getting specific on the outcome desired is basically a blueprint (i.e. deciding on what you want), and getting specific on the crystal-clear steps to achieve that blueprint is the procedure or the checklist (i.e. figuring out how to get it). And this applies for everything from studying for classes to baking cookies: having a strategy, an approach, a checklist, basically some steps that you can follow typically gives you a much higher chance for success than other methods. There's a dude who wrote an excellent (but dense) book called The Checklist Manifesto that you may like, OP:
https://www.amazon.com/Checklist-Manifesto-How-Things-Right-ebook/dp/B0030V0PEW/
From a higher-level, Getting Things Done by David Allen is basically the implementation of the idea that you need to figure out what you want & then figure out how to get it & then stick reminders of them on your calendar and to-do list. It's not rocket science, but if you skip any of those steps, it's really easy to let things slip:
https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity-ebook/dp/B00KWG9M2E/
So you can you figure out how to build an IKEA chair, a car engine, a rocket engine, or space alien technology? With a clear set of work instructions, sure. Or if you have a knack for hardware assembly & visualizing how things mechanically operate, then you can probably figure it out eventually. I have a friend who rebuilds old cars & the amount of parts in them is just bananas. He's doing an old Chevelle right now and it looks like Home Depot exploded in his garage...nuts & bolts & tools are just everywhere! And he's just one dude working from a manual & a parts catalog & refurbishing techniques & so on. Back in the day, they'd have thousands of people on that car's assembly line, each doing specific jobs to pump out vehicles in quantity on a daily basis.
Personally, it has taken me many years to stop being stubborn about the fact that you can't do everything, and good stuff takes time to do, and the best stuff is done by defining what you really want & then getting a solid procedural checklist going. Limitations aren't limiting; limitations are, in reality, your keys to freedom. Michael Jordan wasn't super great at baseball or golf, but he really focused on basketball & was amazing at it. Getting selective about what you focus on & then working the heck out of that is what gets you good at things & is what gets things done. There's a classic post on reddit known as "no more zero days" that talks about consistently plugging away at stuff, no matter how little progress you make every day, because making consistent progress is what counts, because 0 + 0 + 0 = 0, you know?
https://www.reddit.com/r/getdisciplined/comments/1q96b5/i_just_dont_care_about_myself/cdah4af/
3. Rocket science is easy for rocket scientists. What I mean is, pretty much anything is easy if you understand it. Trying your shoes is a brainless activity, but when you're five years old & you're learning how to tie them, it's a real bear. That's not to say that certain tasks don't require work...Arnold's procedure for becoming Mr. Olympia was pretty easy, i.e. lift weights, but it was still a lot of effort to complete. But he knew what he wanted & he know how to get it, and he followed his plan & got his results. I think that's another thing I've learned over time...success is not elusive in reality; simply working on the right things for a specific result will make it happen 99% of the time. I mean, there's always outliers, like if you want to be in the Olympics & your body just can't physically achieve that level of performance, but making the perfect chocolate-chip cookie or staying in shape with pushups or learning how to play the guitar or whatever is most definitely achievable just by following those underlying, invisible mechanics for how life & real progress operates.
I've thought about this stuff a lot because I have a strong aversion to actually doing the stuff that I want to do, in general. It's like I have to fight myself on every single thing I want to work on, even when I make a plan to do it & am excited about it all day & then get to the moment and I'm like meh, I'd rather do something else, lol. Over the years, I've tried to figure out how life really, truly operates and how to be successful and it pretty much just boils down to figuring out what you want, specifically, and then working on it. It's not that successful people have success because they're lucky or talented or gifted or have rare opportunities come their way or inherited it or whatever, it's because they pick something to focus on & then they keep chipping away on it. Arnold got big muscles because he went to the gym a lot & worked on the right stuff. Trump got super rich not only because he got a loan from his dad, but because he kept working on growing his wealth over the years (politics aside). Michael Jackson got famous as a singer & dancer because he kept practicing great new songs & putting on concerts.
Whenever you look at really successful people, they typically have a pretty simple, clear, and focused plan that they're following. You can say names like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Oprah Winfrey, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, etc. and know
exactly what they do simply because they have a clear focus & consistently work on the right actions to get their selected outcome. Again, that sounds a little procedural, but limitations are really what lets us spread our wings & fly, because you can be creative & successful within a specific, defined niche, but if you're all over the map, then it's hard to get good at any one particular thing because you're not putting in the time to get really good at it & put out a lot of output.
So can you figure out & assemble various things? Sure, maybe, probably, given enough time. If it's something complex, then you'll need some instructions to help out along the way to be more efficient at it...otherwise it'd be like trying to put together a puzzle without looking at the picture on the box to see what it is you're trying to accomplish. The first thing I try to do whenever I'm working on disassembling something like a laptop is to hop on Youtube to see if anyone has an instructional video, because I've broken too many retaining clips & other garbage design features by jumping in first without doing any due diligence. Anyway, the backup I was babysitting just finished so there's your long post for the night lol.
Facebook
Twitter