> I think a transistor, etching, and photolithography should all be explainable to these geniuses.

No doubt! But i’m also not sure if the compute would be the most interesting part to them. The screen itself might fascinate them. Or the touch interface. Or they might ask how is it powered, or how does it store all those videos in that little slab. And if we tell them it is connected to other machines with radiowaves, they might ask many questions about that. They might notice that even though the music they hear “came over the radio” it is exceptionally crisp and without any distortion, so they would ask about that, which could lead us chatting about digital error correction codes or compression algorithms. Or maybe they would be fascinated by the camera and take pictures of themselves, or ask about other features the phone has.

It is one thing to understand that a transistor is just an electronic switch, and if you connect many of them you can have complex electronic circuits. It is an entirely different thing to experience that you can touch one of the tiny images on the slab and then it shows a colourful birds eye view picture of the buildings around us, and with two fingers you can move around to seemingly anywhere else on Earth and see what is there.

We know that the second is just a bunch of transistors appropriately organised but there is a few “wait what? How is that possible?” along the path from understanding transistors to experiencing google earth.

And then of course the biggest magic of it all: this device they are seeing is not some rare wonder which only governments or militaries can afford in few numbers. Not something only specialist can use in laboratories of higher learning. It is a common item anyone can buy. The cost of purchasing this device is comparable to the rent one pays for a modest abode for a month. That is the real magic. That it is available and affordable to the masses.