Matthew Crawford has some good thoughts on this subject. He posits that the agency afforded an individual by working with their hands is something that, by and

Matthew Crawford has some good thoughts on this subject. He posits that the agency afforded an individual by working with their hands is something that, by and large, has been lost. He also touches on the liberation of working on things where the result is easily measurable and not open for debate. For reference, he quit his white collar career to open a motorcycle repair shop and he offers the following as an archetypal example. When you're repairing a motorcycle the end result speaks for itself, it either runs properly or it doesn't. This is often in stark contrast to the white collar world where, not only, long term decisions are made with too little information but most things are outside our outside your control. Agency contrasted with lack of agency.