If you’ve ever wondered how real engineering is done, this video is as good as any to explain the process. You see, TV and movies like to portray moments of insight leading directly to piles of riches and Nobel prizes. In the real world, you try, try, and try again, keeping what works while adding something new until you get what you want.

It’s currently quite popular on the internet to denigrate Thomas Edison, for instance, because he was exactly this kind of a plodder. His method was to identify a problem and painstakingly try one thing after another until he found the best combination of results to get the job done. The internet likes Tesla instead. A big thinker who died penniless.

I’m not sure there’s a big lesson in there, except maybe it’s smarter to invent Legos than go into engineering in the first place. That’s where the real money is, and Christmas is coming.