My mother swore up and down my first words were, " Plug it in ". That was 61 years ago. I grew up in a house that had a TV and radio repair shop in the back. I used to buy junk bags of parts and get schematics out of Popular Electronics magazine. I had projects all over the house. Amazingly they all worked.
Fast forward a few years and Uncle Sam wanted to use my ass as target practice for the cong. I joined the Navy instead. Electronics school in Memphis then fine tuning that with a visit to MIT. 6 years later back to MIT to get my degree while serving out my reserve time. I have never been so drunk in my life.
I have seen crude vacuum tube circuits go to transistors and micro chips. Then on to fitting millions of them on a single chip with a purpose. A microprocessor.
And look at us now. It's been an interesting journey and it isn't over yet.