Almost any internal part of a large machine would be inscrutable. Most are inscrutable even now. If you handed an automobile carburetor to a person under 35 they would struggle to identify it, and even if you handed it to a car mechanic, 25 or younger, they would struggle to identify it, as fuel injection became standard by the 1990s and old cars with carburetors largely vanished by 2010 or 2015. And yet anyone 50 or older will remember seeing them in their cars any time they popped the hood.
A central fuse box has been standard in all new homes since at least 1945 if not 1930, so if you hand someone a disposable fuse from 1930, would they be able to guess the purpose?
My dad was a photographer from 1950 to 2007 and he kept the "dark room" in the basement of our house, a large room full of thousands of objects. He was an expert and dodging and burning, decades before Photoshop. He created his own tools for the dodging and burning, typically by taking a coat hanger and bending to the right shape, then attaching some cardboard and wrapping it with tape. It was a specialist tool and even in 1970 or so, 99.99% of the people on the planet would not have been able to guess the purpose.
carburetors exist on more than just cars. Lawnmowers, ATVs, motorcycles, etc.
Given that someone is already skilled in engine maintenance, seems unlikely they wouldn’t recognize a common engine component in all classic cars and most small engines.
Furthermore, what’s with the argument that someone would be completely unfamiliar with an object/event/concept that existed before their time? I see this argument used from time to time, and it’s baffling. Are you completely unfamiliar with everything that was not longer manufactured after you were born? Does it surprise you that a ton of young people are interested in restoring classic vehicles (and electric retrofits) and there is a large online community of such?
The human species hasn't changed, the stuff they're familiar with has changed.
And I think you underestimate the younger generations, I'm under 35 and could trivially identify a carb or fuse.
Furthermore, I would be unsurprised if my 5 year old could also identify those inscrutable things, he 'helped' me get the snowblower ready for the season and winterize the power washer a month ago, and watched/helped while asking endless questions as I replaced the water heater last weekend. It sits adjacent to the furnace, which has a discrete Edison fuse; I don't recall if that was part of the litany but it probably was.
With respect, I’m over 50, and the only reason I know anything at all about carburetors is that my cousin has built them for decades for use in race cars. Still does, as a side job.
But Destin on “Smarter Every Day” taught me way more about them than I ever learned from my cousin.
A central fuse box has been standard in all new homes since at least 1945 if not 1930, so if you hand someone a disposable fuse from 1930, would they be able to guess the purpose?
My dad was a photographer from 1950 to 2007 and he kept the "dark room" in the basement of our house, a large room full of thousands of objects. He was an expert and dodging and burning, decades before Photoshop. He created his own tools for the dodging and burning, typically by taking a coat hanger and bending to the right shape, then attaching some cardboard and wrapping it with tape. It was a specialist tool and even in 1970 or so, 99.99% of the people on the planet would not have been able to guess the purpose.