#40: The Wonderful World of Potatoes
The really amazing thing about many of humanity’s coolest and craziest discoveries and inventions is to think of the particular set of circumstances that needed to arise in order to make way for them. In other words, how did people even think that certain things would be a good idea to try without knowing the results?
For example, why would anyone try dunking a potato in hydrogen peroxide without prior knowledge that it would be of any use? Who thought, “Oh yes, I’m sure if I put my Yukon gold potato into this beaker of antiseptic fluid, it will do something interesting and important?” Either someone very smart or someone totally nuts. Or both.