Overkill
Humanity builds miracles of physics and then uses them for the dumbest possible things. Pick one.
GPS
How we used Einstein to find the DoorDash guy
The power grid
Splitting atoms to cool three beers
Undersea cables
Lasers on the ocean floor for dog videos
Computer chips
Wizard sand that mostly does email
Weather forecasting
Simulating the whole sky to pick a hoodie
Internet routing
A phone book run on trust, used to find pizza
Bananas
A floating refrigerator for a snack you forget
The blue LED
A Nobel Prize for 3 a.m. scrolling
Barcodes
Lasers that yell at you at self-checkout
The microwave oven
Wartime radar for lukewarm coffee
Jet engines
Metal grown like a gem to fly home for an argument
Card payments
A global fraud-sniffing network for one latte
Lithium-ion batteries
A Nobel Prize that still dies at 14%
Smoke detectors
Nuclear leftovers that yell at toast
Wi-Fi
Black hole math for bathroom cat videos
Phone motion sensors
A silicon gyroscope that hates when you lie down
Noise-cancelling headphones
Anti-sound for ignoring your roommate
Phone cameras
A Nobel-winning eye for photographing lunch
CAPTCHAs
Proving you’re human to robots who do it better
Inkjet printers
Tiny ink explosions that refuse to print black
Toilets and water treatment
A city-sized chemistry plant for your poop
Song recognition
A star map of sound for the grocery store song
Air conditioning
A printing press fix for hoodies in July