Intelligent Tinkering: Sheep prevent Zen

Fixing and the future

As Matthew Crawford pointed out in "Shop Class and Soulcraft," there is nothing more pathetic than a modern man or woman mystified and infantilized by the high-tech gadgetry he or she owns but can't repair or even understand. We have become by historic stages the owners and users of powerful technology, gadgets of all shapes and purposes with previously-unimaginable labor-saving abilities and convenience, but we can fix none of it ourselves because fixing -- learning how to use tools and reason to make things that have stopped working work again -- is unfashionable. We are told by modern culture that gainful employment requires a college degree. Apart from a few science labs, that degree will be almost all taught in the classroom or worse, online. And children thus spend their apprenticeship years, the years they should be learning to use their hands and brains together, using only their brain and only a small part of the brain at that. It's no surprise that only a small minority of folks ever learn to fix anything more complicated than a Lego set. This is a major problem for society in many ways. Most importantly, it creates a kind of aura of invincibility and invisibility around technology that few penetrate. And then we wonder why there are so many conspiratorial nutcases and Q-freaks around. They don't understand "normal" society because, never having been taught or learned anything about our complex society and the technology that runs it, they make stuff up about in their heads and share it on the Internet. The answer is to relearn how to fix -- to learn again to use reason and logic to repair things. Including society.

About me

I'm a former renewable energy scientist that got into this as a pastime, through the various FaceBook Groups for the different cars, trucks, and pieces of farm and renewable energy equipment I own and maintain, and decided that I enjoy giving advice -- when I'm not busy fixing things. I was trained by the Royal Air Force as a jet engineer and rescue troop and worked on training planes and the awesome F4 "Phantom" fighter. After demob in 1985, I came to the states and worked as a mechanic before going to college here (at the age of 28) and becoming a scientist. Once I got my PhD, I did a lot of weather and renewable energy science fieldwork that required tinkering, and trained students for the renewable energy industry, including various lab, design, and engineering classes. My former students run and staff solar, wind, and energy audit firms, and do energy policy work for non-profits and the government around the US and in Europe. Then after retirement, I became interested in mechanical work again. I have my own well-equipped shop and auto lift. Sometimes I will make videos of various procedures and post them here too. Many decades ago, I got interested in the philosophical thought of Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and apply insights from Zen Buddhism and Quaker Faith and Practice in my work. Most of the time, when something can't be fixed, the short circuit is "between the ears" and so knowing yourself is key to fixing things.

Intelligent Tinkering

Fixing things and the future of society.

Saturday, December 3, 2022

Sheep prevent Zen

No comments:

Post a Comment

Popular Posts