An Internet hub for moderates, centrists, and independents, with domestic and international news, analysis, original reporting, and popular features from the left, center, and right

« Health Care Reform, The Real Miracle: We Are Still Here

A Legacy of Slavery Hinders Healthcare Reform »

The Tinker Damned

Posted by JAZZ SHAW, Assistant Editor in Society.
Aug 18th, 2009 | Comments

One of the books I read this summer was Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford. I don’ line up for every philosophical treatise that comes down the pike, but this one really peaked my interest. It deals with our evolving relationship with “things” and how we view them, as well as the denigrating view taken of youths who choose to go into “the trades” rather than heading off to college to join the “knowledge economy.” This is the subject of my column this week at Pajamas Media, Tinkerers No More.

As I discuss in the article, being a tinker was once a noble and highly valued profession. The tinker, or tinsmith, was responsible for the height of existing technology in the fifteenth and sixteen century. Today, it exists as a surname, but in terms of verbs it has taken on a decided negative connotation. (”Don’t tinker with that!”) There was a time when you bought a new blender for your kitchen and the instructions came with an exploded view of the inner workings and a parts list with information where to find replacement components. Today a new blender requires special tools and an advanced degree just to pop the damned thing open and the instructions come with a toll free number and a web site where you can order a new blender.

We don’t fix things any more and we increasingly don’t make things. And we don’t place value on those who choose to follow a career path where they do make or fix things. Is this an improvement in our society?

Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0

Father_Time

We make aircraft. We fix them too. We have aircraft mechanics and avionics technicians "trades knowledge" and aerodynamic, thermodynamic and monkey motion engineers "college knowledge".

So there.

HemmD

I may be that the author doesn't grasp that the intellectual essence of being a tinker has morphed into other fields. Essentially, a tinker was asked to fix things that were broken with whatever technique and material available. Intellectually, that's troubleshooting and problem solving. Those traits are alive and well, they just tend to deal with more ephemeral materials.

For twenty years, I ran an Antique Restoration and Reproduction business, very similar to the old tinker's craft. When I first learned computer programming, the parallel between creating parts and then assembling them made that transition seem natural because the intellectual process between the fields is identical.

As outsourcing put strains upon the programming industry, I moved into Internet connectivity. It may not be readily apparent, but both fields, furniture repair and internet troubleshooting, require system analysis and creativity. I would submit that many old world tinkers could make good technicians today. The education is of course different, but the traits required are identical.

And of course, there are good and bad technicians today just as there were good tinkers and tinkers who didn't give a damn. Hope this isn't too far afield.

blog comments powered by Disqus