Voice of Community

Maker community is real

Although I have been to Maker Faire and Techshop and read and talked a lot about the democratization of fabrication, my view of the maker movement I have to admit has been tinged with a little skepticism. (What can you expect from a Brit trained from birth to question any kind of enthusiasm?) However that all changed when I was at a party last week.

The party was at one of my neighbors and was to celebrate the end of their kitchen remodel – the end of cement dust, bare wall-board, appliance hookups, and the rest, and a return to normality where one can once again boil eggs on a stove and not on the barbecue. Anyway, during the festivities my neighbor took me aside and ushered me to the studio at the bottom of the garden to proudly show me his new baby – a 3d printer.

 
There it was in all its glory. He added the pellets and proceeded to “print” out an electric outlet cover. It took about 10 minutes to complete. It was perfect.

He lives in a 1914 craftsman cottage in the San Francisco Bay Area and plans to use it to print period items that are no longer manufactured -  perfect use case for 3D printing. 
 
He has joined TechShop and is taking Autodesk Inventor classes to perfect his models.

I’m a convert! And when I start seeing them on the sidewalk alongside unwanted NEC monitors, Epsom printers, and old Macs, then I know that we have truly crossed the chasm. Are others starting to see them more and more?

Diatribe against tribes

Tribes are receiving plenty of praise and admiration lately and although I respect Seth Godin immensely and read his blog daily, I can’t but think that his admonitions to find, create, lead or join a tribe is misguided at best and dangerous at worst.

Tribes are mean selfish inhumane social institutions. Tribes are only interested in the tribe and the survival of the tribe; the cause, if there is one, is always secondary. Tribes don’t like other tribes; they eliminate other tribes or capture and absorb other tribe members into their own tribe. Tribes have no respect for other tribes. Tribalism is thought to be one of the biggest impediments to democratic development in many countries and closer to home, there is no love lost between the Bloods and the Crips or other tribes. I also contend that the tribalization of politics in America has in great part lead to the increasing gap between the parties – gone is “country before party”. Geographical tribalization has led to increasingly homogenous red and blue states; ideological tribalization to increasingly intransigent thought silos; and tribal rhetoric has led to the constant negative-ad wrapped demonization of the opposing tribe.

My recommendations: if you’re in a tribe, get out (run don’t walk); if you’re leading a tribe, as my mother said to me when I worked for the government, “get a proper job.” Find a cause, create a movement, or participate in a community, (in this regard I am totally at one with Seth) but stay away from tribes.

Do others have a more benign view of tribes?