This officially marks the death of manual competence. By the time somebody writes a think-piece musing that maybe we should return to some lost cultural value,

This officially marks the death of manual competence. By the time somebody writes a think-piece musing that maybe we should return to some lost cultural value, that value is REALLY lost. That said, anyone who has seen Maker Faire knows that there is such a subculture, but it's based around making things from scratch. These days it's far more difficult to learn skills by tinkering with the things you buy in the marketplace; they are far too complex and self-contained.