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From the "about" page: > No matter what skill I intended to learn, I found that its permanence had been eroded by the chaos of technology. Materials were repla

From the "about" page: > No matter what skill I intended to learn, I found that its permanence had been eroded by the chaos of technology. Materials were replaced by brands, techniques replaced by accessories, and craftsmanship replaced by consumerism. Clearly, this was something that needed to be fixed. Clearly, this is what I had to do.

bayindirh 5y ago
> "No matter what skill I intended to learn, I found that its permanence had been eroded by the chaos of technology." I find this particularly correct. There are some technologies and/or things which are very simple, yet very hard to improve upon. Incidentally, these items are very durable too. Double edge razors and fountain pens come to my mind. Yet, these technologies and items are thrown away or forced to obsolescence just because they don't produce the profits today's corporations seek. I think it's a very sad outcome. One can say that modern razors or writing implements doesn't have similar disadvantages of vintage counterparts, but the contrary is also true. Not all modern technologies supersede older ones flawlessly, and older ones still had distinct advantages. Same is also valid for computing technologies, both in hardware and software side. Because of this reality, I find this kind of documentation projects very valuable and important. We need to address permanence of knowledge as soon as possible. It's a very hard problem, but we can start somewhere.
- GrumpyNl 5y ago
  For example , controls in car, a few knobs and buttons will do, they are always there.
  - bayindirh 5y ago
    Yes, physical controls are also good and useful. IIRC, Ford has a simulator just for testing these controls in the cockpit. They design and implement a cockpit, mount it to the simulator and run some scenarios like animals crossing roads or someone braking hard in front of you. I drive a 2001 focus, and all controls can be operated so-called blindly. I can do anything (HVAC, hazards, lights, etc.) without moving my eyes from the road. I think it's very important.
vidarh 5y ago
As much as it's a fascinating project, a lot of the things described are things you can easily find described by looking for just slightly older books and magazines. E.g. my dad had a series of books from his childhood setting out "experiments for boys" from the 1950s and 1960s, that because they were targeting low cost and ability for children to reproduce them (though by the time I got them in the early 1980s some materials were already tricky to obtain because they were considered too dangerous - the books contained plenty of experiments including fireworks and e.g. acids for example). It was how I learned both to make carbon microphones like the one he described, and other fun things like electroplating (unfortunately I learned how to do that by toying with electrolysis with lead electrodes and accidentally covering one of my mum's silver spoons in lead - it was not popular) Combine those kind of books with a good guide for how to safely extract the chemicals etc. that are now a hassle to come by, and you'd bootstrap a very substantial amount of processes and skills.
clairity 5y ago
the author lists a set of foundational materials to be mastered: fiber, wood, metal, clay, and glass. coincidentally, i'd been thinking about the construction of buildings in terms of timeless (and less toxic) materials, where it would be wonderful to remove as much plastic and concrete from modern buildings as possible, and design them with only wood, metal, ceramics (clay), stone, and glass. the hard part is elements like paint, wiring, and insulation, but this person is actually tackling those kinds of issues head on!

bayindirh 5y ago

> "No matter what skill I intended to learn, I found that its permanence had been eroded by the chaos of technology." I find this particularly correct. There are some technologies and/or things which are very simple, yet very hard to improve upon. Incidentally, these items are very durable too. Double edge razors and fountain pens come to my mind. Yet, these technologies and items are thrown away or forced to obsolescence just because they don't produce the profits today's corporations seek. I think it's a very sad outcome. One can say that modern razors or writing implements doesn't have similar disadvantages of vintage counterparts, but the contrary is also true. Not all modern technologies supersede older ones flawlessly, and older ones still had distinct advantages. Same is also valid for computing technologies, both in hardware and software side. Because of this reality, I find this kind of documentation projects very valuable and important. We need to address permanence of knowledge as soon as possible. It's a very hard problem, but we can start somewhere.

GrumpyNl 5y ago
For example , controls in car, a few knobs and buttons will do, they are always there.
- bayindirh 5y ago
  Yes, physical controls are also good and useful. IIRC, Ford has a simulator just for testing these controls in the cockpit. They design and implement a cockpit, mount it to the simulator and run some scenarios like animals crossing roads or someone braking hard in front of you. I drive a 2001 focus, and all controls can be operated so-called blindly. I can do anything (HVAC, hazards, lights, etc.) without moving my eyes from the road. I think it's very important.

vidarh 5y ago

As much as it's a fascinating project, a lot of the things described are things you can easily find described by looking for just slightly older books and magazines. E.g. my dad had a series of books from his childhood setting out "experiments for boys" from the 1950s and 1960s, that because they were targeting low cost and ability for children to reproduce them (though by the time I got them in the early 1980s some materials were already tricky to obtain because they were considered too dangerous - the books contained plenty of experiments including fireworks and e.g. acids for example). It was how I learned both to make carbon microphones like the one he described, and other fun things like electroplating (unfortunately I learned how to do that by toying with electrolysis with lead electrodes and accidentally covering one of my mum's silver spoons in lead - it was not popular) Combine those kind of books with a good guide for how to safely extract the chemicals etc. that are now a hassle to come by, and you'd bootstrap a very substantial amount of processes and skills.

clairity 5y ago

the author lists a set of foundational materials to be mastered: fiber, wood, metal, clay, and glass. coincidentally, i'd been thinking about the construction of buildings in terms of timeless (and less toxic) materials, where it would be wonderful to remove as much plastic and concrete from modern buildings as possible, and design them with only wood, metal, ceramics (clay), stone, and glass. the hard part is elements like paint, wiring, and insulation, but this person is actually tackling those kinds of issues head on!