Lost crafts

One may sometimes wonder what the computer have given to us, I hear do not think of easy access to information, email, etc. more in the way of what have lost by having the computer.

I was having a discussion with some friends this weekend, and one of the things which came up it looks like "just" because we now have the computer, and there are tools which can help in our work, and somethings are easier to do, it then does not mean that it's done the right way.

For example, retouching photos. In the "old" days it was a pain staking job to do, now anyone can scan the photo (if we are talking about photos), use Adobe PhotoShop to stretch/repair the photo, and everyone can do it with a bit of trail and error. But is it done the right way?

And how can it be that some crafts are no longer taught, my dad was a blacksmith and was taught to make horseshoes from raw metal, these days it looks like one can buy horseshoes off the shelf and then "just" do the fitting.

I do not think we should expect that most of the known crafts will be around in another 50 - 100 years, and that means that we will not know the basis, which in some cases could be required to create something which is not possible to do with a computer and a CNC machine.

And will it actually help our society if we don't know how to produce things by hand?

Comments

Be a Good Daughter said…
Great post.
I am sure you'll read my diary..
Ciao

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