This blog is dedicated to sharing the concept that our hands are essential to learning- that we engage the world and its wonders, sensing and creating primarily through the agency of our hands. We abandon our children to education in boredom and intellectual escapism by failing to engage their hands in learning and making.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
This man can move things. It is interesting that scholars have been speculating about this for years. Not surprisingly, Wally is a retired carpenter. More of him doing incredible things with levers and gravity can be found on his website: Forgotten Technology
We have a temptation to externalize expertise. That means knowledge exists outside us, and outside our own experience. But little people can figure things out when we get messing with things and observing as we go, paying attention to what is revealed.
This guy, Wally, like all carpenters, had experience as a problem solver. He also had a curiosity that came from very simple challenges in his own work. That is what all craftsmen and artisans have in common.
We mess with the materials found in our environment, observe the ways in which we can manipulate them and then we use what we learn to change things for the better.
And here we have "sufficiently advanced technology" that is thousands of years old. I love it.
ReplyDeleteMario
in a rare moment, I am left speechless!
ReplyDeleteWe have a temptation to externalize expertise. That means knowledge exists outside us, and outside our own experience. But little people can figure things out when we get messing with things and observing as we go, paying attention to what is revealed.
ReplyDeleteThis guy, Wally, like all carpenters, had experience as a problem solver. He also had a curiosity that came from very simple challenges in his own work. That is what all craftsmen and artisans have in common.
We mess with the materials found in our environment, observe the ways in which we can manipulate them and then we use what we learn to change things for the better.