How stuff works

摘要

IN SUCH a complex world, no one can be expected to understand everything. But for energy expert Vaclav Smil, there are limits. In his view, it is inexcusable that most of us don't know the first thing about the basic workings of modern life and the technologies that keep us all alive. It's not all rocket science, he says. "Appreciating how wheat is grown or steel is made… are not the same as asking… somebody to comprehend femtochemistry."