Reverse engineering thy soul.

Today I became fascinated by the faithful olde coffee cup holder. It is built to hold coffe. Not just one, but at least four; even six if you count the space in the middle. What a strike of genius whoever invented such. An individual has the ability to carry 12 cups of coffee at one time. Perfect for those cumbersome office orders in the morning. Where would we as a society be without the coffee cup holder? Without less coffee perhaps? I'm not sure it is hard to foresee a time in which such a device does not exist.

None of these thoughts came into my head as I examined the holder. I was fascinated by the structure of the holder. And the reason for each part of the holder being as it was. For each part of the holder has a purpose. Each fold, perforated line, hole, etc has a distinct purpose. But what? The obvious reason for the 4 coffee cup sized holes is to hold coffee. Duh. So what. But what about the parts that fold in when the cup is inserted into the hole? Easy, they jam against the coffee cup so it does not move as much. The perforated line? Smarty pants. It breaks it in two so the person will not waste 4 spaces when they only have 2 cups to carry. Well what about the half circle support stuck to the bottom of the holder? They are half a circle so the holder can be flattened - a space saver. Simple. Hmmm.



When I take it apart there are semi-circles holes in the bottom. What does that mean? For what purpose is that? Well it helps to... um stabalise the base. It sorta does something. Okay, I don't know. It is about efficiency. Instead of having a the 2 half circle hole filled with cardboard it is faster in the manufacturing process to have the supports, which are stuck to the base, glued at the same time as the base itself. Ah I see.

Now the whole coffee cup holder makes structure sense. Every part of the holder is there for a reason and each reason has been understood. What if one could do this with ones soul? Reverse engineer it. Look at the structure and find out what each part means, what the purpose of such is? Why can't it be done? Just start asking questions and keep asking until the whole is understood.