Agreed: nobody is interested in everything. If someone was talking about the 19th century Slovakian art movement, I'd probably zone out.
But there are some complex systems that form the basis of civilization that just cannot be simply dismissed as "mundane", at least in my opinion. Systems that, without their presence and correct end-to-end operation, would result in absolute collapse of civilization. Systems that have been developed and perfected through the work of countless scientists, engineers, and laborers over the span of decades.
The power grid falls into this category, while the aforementioned 19th century movement does not.
Of course, I'm probably not aware of all such systems, and I'd definitely be delighted when someone points one out. Heck, I only learned about the complexity of HDTV standards throughout history on a HN thread today! It does not fall under the category I noted above, but I still found it deeply interesting.
I am interested in everything - even 19th century Slovakian art movements.
I love talking to people who are interested in anything other than themselves - it really doesn't matter what as long as they are interested in something enough to have learnt and thought about the topic in some depth.
The real shame is so few people are interested in anything at all.
Honestly, that's an awesome attitude to have, as people nowadays have a much shorter attention span (myself included!).
And yes, I agree: it's getting harder and harder to hold a deep conversation with someone on a technical topic, even in a professional setting. Or perhaps I'm just not looking correctly?
It is really hard to get people to open up about their interests. People with interests are so used to being shut down by other people "yeah that is interesting now let's talk more about me" that you need to slowly coax them out. The best way is to listen intently and ask probing questions to draw them out. Once they feel safe you will have some amazing conversations.
Just watch out for the bores that will just parrot whatever they heard on FOX/CNN last night.
I am the same way. Sometimes, when I hear someone get excited/interested about something I know a lot about, I try and shut up and just listen to them talk about it. It is really a great experience.
Would you put wheel design/construction in the "mundane" category? That has similar characteristics, I think, except for the scale and coordination required.
I think I disagree that those characteristics necessitate interest. People can consider the fact that the electric grid is an awesome accomplishment, while also having no care for understanding its history or inner workings.
I'd probably go for automobile manufacturing instead, since (modern) wheel design is a subset of that; i.e., without vehicles, we wouldn't really need advanced tire technology.
That's true. I just feel that a better term could be used, since "mundane" makes it seem like the thing you're talking about is "no big deal". It just feels wrong to use it on something like the power grid.
