In a world of increasingly complex tools, a category emerges: the adapter. Sometimes you need to connect this electronic device to this one, or this power source to this thing that uses a different power source, or this modular piece of a tool to a different type of tool, or this pipe fitting to this different size pipe, or any other of a million things.
The world is modular, but there’s no universal standard. Adapters are like language translators. Two very smart people who don’t speak the same language can’t communicate and collaborate without an intermediary. Adapters are just the intermediaries of the gizmo world.
They’re physical arbitrage. I love it. I love the hunt for the right one, and the glorious satisfaction that comes from fixing a problem because you could connect the right sequence of tools or programs or whatever it was you needed.
All problems are solvable. You just need to connect the dots.
The Opportunity Machine 