There's something amazing about machines. And I'm not talking about artificial intelligence and technology of today's standards - I mean machines with sprockets, prongs, springs, arms, wheels, levers, tickers, and all manner of tiny things that serve a specific, yet not unimportant purpose.
For instance, this. I want one of these.... a film projector, replete with shutters, apertures, speed and focus knobs... so beautiful. A machine like this came from the human mind crafting and problem-solving, not just programming a bunch of ones and zeroes to create a projected image. There's definitely magic in the illusion of thousands of images projected at 24 fps... I think we can see ourselves and our lives clearly in the delicate hum and flicker of a proper filmic experience. And yet, how strange that this natural attraction comes from something a machine captured and re-created for us.
While an increasingly digital culture does make things convenient, I think we've forgotten some things that are still important - like what to do with our hands. To build something, to create with muscle memory and the delicate sensory spectrum of our fingertips and the callus of our palms. Pretty soon we'll all have forgotten how to build machines that make magic... and be left with machines which pull away the curtain, revealing the cold and sterile artifice behind them.