Locomotive Breath
2009-08-18 06:41:27
This article, in many ways, fails to take into account the impact that technological advances make upon the ability to “tinker”.
I’m an electrical engineer and grew up in the Heathkit era. I’m also a tinkerer. Electronics now is so high tech that it requires several thousand dollars of relatively specialized equipment just to get started. This locks out most high schoolers who want to do it one their own.
It’s generally impossible now to repair most electronics. Who has a broken cell phone “repaired” when engineers have worked really hard to make the new ones cheaper and more capable? Most electronic devices today are cheap and disposable. Which means no one tinkers with them.
