He’s saying the things I think!

…only in a way that is far less wordy and verbose than the manner in which I would typically attempt to describe the sorts of things I am thinking about.

Thank you, Cory Doctorow.

“”The way you improve your iPad isn’t to figure out how it works and making it better. The way you improve the iPad is to buy iApps. Buying an iPad for your kids isn’t a means of jump-starting the realization that the world is yours to take apart and reassemble; it’s a way of telling your offspring that even changing the batteries is something you have to leave to the professionals.”

This is part of what is at the core of the Maker philosophy – empowering people to learn about the stuff of which civilizations are made, rather than being a plankton-like consumer/spectator.  When something goes wrong, you don’t have to take it back to the store or call the (*shudder*) Geek Squad. 1

This is the heart of civilization, improving upon the work of prior generations.  You have the luxury of being smarter than Einstein and wiser than Oppenheimer with 20-20 hindsight.  You can know everything they know and improve upon it all.  You can fix it yourself. 2  You have all of the tools you need right now, in your home right now.  You can use the stuff you already have to build the tools you need to build absolutely anything within imagination.

  1. Geek Squad.  Don’t get me started. []
  2. Or, heaven forbid, improve it yourself. []

3 thoughts on “He’s saying the things I think!

  1. I think you underestimate your skills as a writer. “Professional” journalists are masters of filling the universe with hot air and pointless information. You said everything he said in two paragraphs. Blogging is the Maker philosophy for the transmission of ideas. So you should take the same view of it. Doing it yourself is better. Their world of strict information control and idea management is coming to an end because of the Internet. The same vision you have for that happening in the production of goods will happen as well with 3D printing.

  2. I might be – but Cory pays his mortgage with his blog and I can’t. (Esp since I have no ads, affiliates, etc.) ;) Anyhow, that first sentence was basically a joke. I was essentially making fun of myself – using too many words to say something ridiculously simple.

    In many ways the fine art of blogging is much like the art of magazines. Have you ever noticed how magazines all seem to run the same exact articles over and over? They repackage them, retitle them, new pictures, etc – but it’s usually the same information recycled again and again.

  3. Pingback: Why didn’t they have classes like this when I was in college? | MakerBlock

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