“The craftsman is proud of what he has made, and cherishes it, while the consumer discards things that are perfectly serviceable in his restless pursuit of the new”
Richard Sennett, The Culture of the new Capitalism
With this quote, I entered Technology Will Save Us’ site. As it usually happens, I don’t know how I ended up on this website, but I’m sure glad I did!
From a DIY approach of creating your own speakers, a thirsty plant detector, your own musical instrument, paper lamps, etcétera, the core of TWSU is to educate and enable people to create and experiment with technology. If you think about it, the smartphone you are reading this with, or the computer screen that allows you to read this blogpost, has been created in such a way that is not easy for us to fix the actual physical thing, or use them in creative ways, or mix and match: either you order it the way you want it assembled (Dell, for instance), or if something happens, you cry and go to the Apple store. Even the term “jailbraking” your phone so its compatible with other things out there tells you about the nature of how are these technology products created.
As these guys from Technology Will Save us say:
“An exciting shift is emerging in society, a shift where people are finding new and inventive ways to re-skill. This business is part of that shift”
Learning skills we never learnt about are key to understanding the technologies that surround us and that we take for granted. It is a more sustainable way of using what we already have, and to re-purpose our everyday tools and gadgets.
Technology, when understood and used for a new purpose in a more sustainable and creative way, will make an ever bigger difference in our lives. Technology Will Save Us.
Technology Will Save Us give workshops, training and form a community to help people produce and not just consume technology. Go tho their site here.
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