Quote:
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Originally Posted by bobj3 Hi Cowboy
Well it's a new world and it's the computer that will take over may jobs in the shop,,, just like the CNC machine and the robots they can do it better ....and it's just the tip of the iceburg....the computer chip is just down the road and it's coming...
OK so I will get off the soap box for now  |
The
SADDEST thing about what you said -- is that it is
probably true.
I appreciate your using correct terminology about the CNC machine and the robots etc --- "they" do it -- not the craftsman -- he is reduced to a button pusher.
Personally -- I prefer a piece of work that I know someone has put their heart and soul and sweat into -- even WITH its 'mistakes' and 'waste'. Making mistakes - and learning from them -- or figuring out ways to fit them into the work is - to me at least - part of what wood craft is all about.
And that is usually why the people who ask me to do projects for them do so - because I tell them up front - they can get by quicker and cheaper if they just go to Wally World and buy something off the shelf.
This is nothing new -- There is a line in Teahouse of the August Moon - where the villagers have tried to raise money selling handcrafted goods to the servicemen --- only to be rebuffed and told that they could buy the same thing cheaper at the dime store.
Only it is NOT the same.
I'm no techno-phobe. Computers have their place. In factories they do make things faster and cheaper so more people can afford them. In medicine - heck - I've had two angioplasties and a triple bypass -- without the technology that made those possible -- I wouldn't be here.
But - when it comes down to what is treasured and has meaning - again at least to me - it's the human touch. I'll take a carving any day that someone sat for hours with knife and chisel and poured his soul into -- over one -- no matter how much 'better' it was technically - that he just downloaded a picture off of google - stuck a board in a CompuCarve and pressed a button.
I am
glad that you are so excited about this sterile computerized 'brave new world'. No - that's not sarcasm - I am truly glad -- for you. Because you are right - that very likely IS the world that you - or your kids will be living in.
For me -- I'm glad I got to live in a world where craftsman was not just a label on a product in an ancient catalogue. And frankly - not disappointed at all that I will likely be gone before this new world comes to full fruition.
My apologies to Nik for straying so far from his original post ---
And to any I may have offended - there was certainly NONE intended.