[joshmarinacci]

Incidentally the size of sockets and screws (including the Allen wrench) is very much a technology. William Sellers pushed standards in the mid 1800s specifically to benefit American industry through interoperability. Standards we still use today.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Sellers

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3102001

[osullivj]

And the gauges are just as important. Obligatory ref to Brad Cox seminal 1990 paper, Planning the Software Industrial Revolution, and it's compelling analogy with Eli Whitney.

[anitil]

It's amazing how much things that seem so ho-hum today are yesterday's incredible invention

[bombcar]

Anyone who has used a #1 Phillips on a #2 screw or vice versa knows the pain that is available - and those are pretty standardized!