Tools and the World
When I was younger, I didn't care much for going to hardware stores. That wasn't the kind of tools and the kind of building that interested me that much. The most fun part for me, as a kid, was the funky panel carts with the bars on them they used to have to carry boards on them. That's started to change, which is to say I've started to change. Partly because my interest has moved on from just computer stuff, which these days mostly requires a screwdriver, if that, to more ambitious goals. And things like making trebuchets, which I blame on Mythbusters. (No, I haven't done it yet. I'll have pictures when I work on it)
Since I got my multitool, I've been carrying it with me most places I go. And I usually find a use for it at least once a day. The little one with scissors, or the screwdrivers, I've even used the can opener...once. But carrying it, there's a lot of times that I wouldn't have done something, but when I have a dozen different tools in my pocket, I can. The other day I fixed a shower head on a hose, because it was broken. It was just held together with three screws, and just needed to be straightened out. But if I hadn't had the tool, I'd probably have just sworn at it and decided to buy a new one, or make do. I probably wouldn't have thought to go get a screwdriver. In a way, it's a method of applied laziness, hacking my own behaviors. Because I know I won't go get something special to work it, but if I have it with me, I will.
And having tools available changes how you interact with the world. Not just because tool use is what separates us from animals (except some apes, and some otters, and some birds, and...) but because 99% of the environment most of us live in was built or adapted by humans. With tools. When you have tools too, you can interact with those parts of the world on the same level, rather than them just being something that's there, and does what it does. Part of that's a matter of mindset too, though. Interacting with the world, as opposed to passively accepting it. Which goes back to my hacker heritage in computers. :)
I'm not sure that I have an actual point here, or that I'm pointing out anything many others before me have, but it's all I've got the time for today.
Since I got my multitool, I've been carrying it with me most places I go. And I usually find a use for it at least once a day. The little one with scissors, or the screwdrivers, I've even used the can opener...once. But carrying it, there's a lot of times that I wouldn't have done something, but when I have a dozen different tools in my pocket, I can. The other day I fixed a shower head on a hose, because it was broken. It was just held together with three screws, and just needed to be straightened out. But if I hadn't had the tool, I'd probably have just sworn at it and decided to buy a new one, or make do. I probably wouldn't have thought to go get a screwdriver. In a way, it's a method of applied laziness, hacking my own behaviors. Because I know I won't go get something special to work it, but if I have it with me, I will.
And having tools available changes how you interact with the world. Not just because tool use is what separates us from animals (except some apes, and some otters, and some birds, and...) but because 99% of the environment most of us live in was built or adapted by humans. With tools. When you have tools too, you can interact with those parts of the world on the same level, rather than them just being something that's there, and does what it does. Part of that's a matter of mindset too, though. Interacting with the world, as opposed to passively accepting it. Which goes back to my hacker heritage in computers. :)
I'm not sure that I have an actual point here, or that I'm pointing out anything many others before me have, but it's all I've got the time for today.