Adam-Assignment-01-3
The Critical Engineering Manifesto
” The Critical Engineer considers Engineering to be the most transformative
language of our time, shaping the way we move, communicate and think. It is the
work of the Critical Engineer to study and exploit this language, exposing its influence. ”
In my own words:
If we cannot engineer then we are forced to consume what exists. If we cannot engineer, our ability to think about the world critically, to think not only about “what” needs to change but “how” it needs to change is severely limited. But enginerring in itself is not enough. A Critical Engineer has to consider their work within the context that it exists – Socially, Economically and in relation to current technologies.
With the rise in popularity of Maker movements, Digital Fabrication and all kinds of DIY movements, Critical Engineering has never been more important – Not being blinded by the shiny allure of 3D printing and laser cutting as a means unto themselves but rather as tools that can influence culture and drive change. It is important not to use these tools to keep on creating copious amounts of junk that ends up in landfills. Rather to acknowledge that they are capable of much more. To use them to provoke conversation and drive change.
The Liberator:
What happens when anyone with a $1000 can print a working gun?
Is this somethig that we should try to prevent? Has the Movie or Music industry been able to stop online piracy?
Something interesting happens when things (music, movies, guns) go from the physical to the digital realm where they can distributed and shared freely. We as a society have not been living with the technology long enough (or thinking about it critically enough) to have answered any of these questions. But these are the things that we should be talking about. Not 3D printing replicas of peoples heads or the countless arbitrary forms that grace the pages of Shapeways and Thingiverse.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/05/05/meet-the-liberator-test-firing-the-worlds-first-fully-3d-printed-gun/