A Ph.D. student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently
created a sophisticated tech-tool that will thrill those who enjoy crafts and
construction. Indeed, Ilan E. Moyer
launched a “computerized addition to power tools that automatically performs
precision measuring and cutting.”
Equipped with a camera, motors, and a video screen, the device guides
individuals as they overcome the tricky task of shaping wood.
My reaction is scattered. First, I
do applaud those devices that permit everyday men and women to perform
specialized and inaccessible tasks. In a
sense, such technologies expand our independence and equip us with the
confidence and capacity to develop ourselves and to diversify our capabilities.
How do you feel after you accomplish a notoriously thorny activity? I feel exceptional. When I manage to assemble a seven
foot kitty playhouse or to untangle an impossibly jumbled necklace, I feel
exceptional.
This tool offers us a few more opportunities to feel exceptional.
However, I can never fully rejoice when yet another specialized skill becomes
technologized. Goodbye artisans. Goodbye experts. Goodbye Etsy vendors. Goodbye to all those individuals who make a
living carving, sanding, manipulating, and perfecting wooden art, accents, and
sculptures.
Goodbye to our differences.
Goodbye to those unique and inimitable talents that distinguish us and
that colorfully beautify the mosaic of mankind.
This seems extreme, but isn’t it true?
When everyone can perform a task, we lose our appreciation for it. I may be making too much of a GPS for
woodcutting but I can’t help it. If When
this device reaches the market, the skillsets of men and women will grow in
resemblance as those same men and women wither in diversity.
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