06 · Making · 4 min
What humans learned to build
Cross the engineered world from pocket technology to machines, monuments, bridges and a particle accelerator.
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01
Opening coordinate · Familiar · Technology
A pocket-scale machine
Apple iPhone 15 · 147.6 mmModern devices compress cameras, radios, sensors and billions of transistors into one hand.
10-113% completeImage source ↗ -
02
First threshold · Familiar · Machines
Personal mobility
2025 Toyota Corolla · 4.64 mA family car makes human scale move at highway speed.
10125% completeImage source ↗ -
03
Perspective shift · Monumental · Machines
Shared transport
School bus · ≈12.2 mThe school bus becomes a useful measuring stick for animals and dinosaurs.
10138% completeImage source ↗ -
04
Deep crossing · Monumental · Machines
A flying building
Boeing 747-8 · 76.3 mA long-haul aircraft combines city-scale logistics with a structure only tens of metres long.
10250% completeImage source ↗ -
05
Deep crossing · Monumental · Architecture
The vertical landmark
Eiffel Tower · 330 mIron latticework carries a structure hundreds of metres into the air.
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06
Revelation · Monumental · Architecture
A vertical neighbourhood
Burj Khalifa · 828 mThe world’s tallest building reaches more than eight hundred metres.
10375% completeImage source ↗ -
07
Return signal · Monumental · Engineering
Engineering across a landscape
Golden Gate Bridge · 2.737 kmA suspension bridge turns kilometres into one connected structure.
10388% completeImage source ↗ -
08
Return signal · Planetary · Engineering
A machine the size of a region
Large Hadron Collider · 26.659 km aroundThe LHC ring is more than twenty-six kilometres around, built to probe particles far smaller than atoms.
104100% completeImage source ↗
Expedition complete
You crossed 5.3 orders of magnitude.
The route began at Apple iPhone 15 and ended at Large Hadron Collider. The next step is to place both endpoints inside the same comparison engine and inspect what the raw ratio means.
