"A brainiac who works in the lab walks into Page’s office one day wielding his latest world-changing invention—a time machine. As the scientist reaches for the power cord to begin a demo, Page fires off a dismissive question: “Why do you need to plug it in?”
It’s a tall tale that is repeated affectionately by the whizzes inside the futuristic lab because it captures the urgency and aspiration of their boss to move technology forward."
Is this really repeated affectionately? (If at all.) That sounds like a bug, not a feature.
It sounds like the typical strategy of just asking for something more when it's presented to you, to get more results. It's easier to ask than to make.
The joke was probably intended as a jab at unreasonable managers, but joke-Page did catch an important engineering flaw: After you use the wall-socket-powered time machine to travel through time, there is likely to not be a wall socket at your destination...
I think it being a time machine trumps its being powered by plutonium: go to future for cure to cancer, come back, and just like that, the plutonium is irrelevant.
the joke is why you're still depending on some manager's opinion, bringing it to his office (for what? for demo? for approval?) when you have invented time machine.
It’s a tall tale that is repeated affectionately by the whizzes inside the futuristic lab because it captures the urgency and aspiration of their boss to move technology forward."
Is this really repeated affectionately? (If at all.) That sounds like a bug, not a feature.