Don’t Forget to Use Your Hands!
Source: Wired 03.08 “Take Up Thy Tools”
As the world changes and advances technologically, we begin to adapt. Computer programming and CAD variety classes are being offered in many secondary schools. People are flocking towards computer-based training, and training themselves for jobs that consist of staring at a monitor for hours on end. What happened to Popular Mechanics and Shop Class?
We are becoming passive and vulnerable consumers. Sure, more people know what the specs of the product they’re buying indicates, which electronic manufacturer has the highest marks from Consumer Reports, and how to setup their new IPhone to perform feats that were thought impossible in the not so distant past. The problem is that when our IPhone starts powering down randomly, we are apt to believe that we need to replace it because we don’t know how to fix it.
Clive Thompson, of Wired, believes that losing “our Everyman ability (is) making it harder to solve the countries nastiest problems, like oil dependence, climate change, and global competitiveness.” If that’s not bad enough, we may actually be altering our brains – different parts of the brain are active when working with your hands. Engineers are relying more on software to design in a virtual sense rather than designing hands-on. What happens if the “Everyman ability” vanishes from our brains altogether?
