Thoughts about O-rings and coffee...

Our coffee machine had a bit of a spaz today... well, it still makes coffee just fine... but the milk steamer is playing up and not bubbling up the milk. Well, I'll survive... I like black coffee as well, so it doesn't really matter! However, in the morning , I do like to make myself a cappuccino... so I missed out this morning!

As I was having a look around on the internet to see what the problem could be, and trying to narrow down the causes.. one of the most likely causes was that the o-rings that form the seal on the milk steamer were broken.... well, it has been quite a few years since they have been replaced... and they were pretty gunky and so, I thought that would be a good place to start!

... so, off to the internet to find and order some o-rings for the coffee machine. Easy enough, you would think!... however, there are quite a variety of o-rings to choose from that are made for coffee machines... and all the various parts of the coffee machines! Sure, there is a little bit of standardisation... but there are so many sizes and types!

.... which led me to thinking about how things that seem simple from outside or as an outsider... are much much more complex than we ever could realise. There is a reason why expert opinion is worth so much more than a layperson... the layperson just can't begin to grasp the complexities of the topic at hand (from coffee machines to mathematics and every topic in between...), and it would be arrogant to think that you could without some serious study of the field.

However, it seems to be the prevailing sentiment on the internet... that a quick Google search in your silo-ed internet feed will be enough to make you the equal of people who have lived, breathed and worked in the field for their entire lives. That a simple anecdote or two is the better of a detailed and well conducted statistical analysis... This is not helped by the fact that politicians and others tell us how simple everything is supposed to be... the talking heads that don't need to understand the topic... but just look and sound authoritative.

So... if I had a wish... I would wish that people could just step back, and just realise how much there is to know... and to understand how little we do know in comparison to others. Sure, we may know a whole heap about one particular topic or a few, but that doesn't mean that we have the same depth of understanding in unrelated fields...

This position of realisation is the basis of learning... the understanding that we have so much to learn.

So... in that spirit... I ordered several sets of o-rings for the coffee machine. I have no idea which ones will work or are for the right part of the machine.... but I'm going to learn, from a very humble basis of ZERO!