As my skills develop, the human-made world around me becomes less confounding, and more like the ultimate ‘hackable platform’ (as DIYers call any technology which can be modified to one’s own unique specifications), inviting me to participate in it. Instead of feeling helpless and buying a solution to every problem that comes my way, I feel confident that I can at least attempt to solve the problem myself. Sure, in the long run, I might save some money by calling a plumber or electrician to take care of problems around the house – but to me the time I spend trying to fix things myself, thus boosting my sense of self-efficacy, is time well spent.
Get started by getting started As you embark on the journey of doing and making things yourself, here are three travel tips:
2. Choose meaningful projects projects that will have the biggest impact on Do the way you live. For me, making a wooden spoon is more fulfilling than making a robot, because I use my spoons every single day; if I made a robot, I wouldn’t do much with it after it had been built. For many people, making robots is a very fulfilling pursuit – but almost every day I eat yogurt and sauerkraut, drink Kombucha (it’s made from tea), play guitar and cook. So keeping bees, making cigar box guitars and fermented foods, and whittling spoons has turned me into a producer instead of a consumer of things that are important to me. Do projects that will improve the way you live.
1. Don’t fear mistakes
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I N T R O D U C TI ON
Use the World, or the World Will Use You
By Josh
My sons’ friend DeVonté taught us The Game; I wish he hadn’t! Once you learn how to play it, your life is altered, forever. And now I’m about to alter your life, too. Sorry about that.
3. Ignorance is no excuse e live in a culture of experts who like to say W ‘Don’t try this at home.’ That’s rubbish. I’m not saying you should go out and play with high voltages (if you don’t understand electricity) or scale a cliff (if you’ve never had experience with technical climbing). But don’t let your ignorance be an impediment; instead of worrying that you don’t know how to do something, just try doing it! Use the internet to connect to communities of practice. Seek out a hacker space in your community. You’ll find that enthusiasts are happy to help anyone who is sincerely interested in learning how to do something. And once you pick up skills of your own, you too will discover how enjoyable it is to help others out.
NOW I CAN TELL YOU THE REAL PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK IT IS A VECTOR DESIGNED TO INFECT EVERY PERSON ON EARTH WITH THE MIND VIRUS KNOWN AS THE GAME WELCOME FELLOW PLAYER
I’ve heard that The Game was invented by members of a science-fiction club at Cambridge University in 1977. This may or may not be true, but what is incontrovertible fact is that The Game is a diabolically clever (and annoying) pastime.
There are three rules: 1. You’re always playing the game. So is everyone else in the world, even if they don’t realise it yet. 2. If you think about The Game, you lose The Game. 3. Whenever you lose The Game, you must say the following phrase aloud, to whoever happens to be nearby: ‘I lost The Game.’ Doing so, of course, causes everybody who hears you to lose The Game. They may groan and throw things at you. Illustration by Chris Piascik
most people grow up thinking that mistakes are If something you should avoid, it’s probably because at school mistakes result in bad marks. I wish schools wouldn’t give marks, because teaching us that mistakes are bad makes us afraid to try new things. The greatest makers I know agree that their secret skill is not how knowledgeable they are about tools or materials or fabrication methods – it’s their willingness to make mistakes and learn from them. So don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Don’t make them intentionally, of course! You should always do your best. But when the inevitable mishap occurs, welcome it. Brain researchers have found that making mistakes is a very effective way to learn new skills – and besides, a mistake can take you in a new direction that you wouldn’t have been able to imagine otherwise. For instance, one time I was sawing fret grooves in the neck of a cigar box guitar and I misplaced a groove. I thought the neck was ruined. But then I thought of something: I filled the groove with a putty made from wood glue and sawdust, and when it dried I painted the entire fretboard with lime-green coloured paint to cover the scar. Now, whenever I make a new cigar box guitar, I always paint the neck a bright colour. It’s become my trademark.
How do you win The Game? You can’t! The best you can hope for is to avoid losing – for a few days, weeks, months. Someone or something will eventually make you lose. Most players suggest that after you lose The Game, you can’t lose it again for a certain period of time – perhaps an hour. This makes sense, because
otherwise once one person in a room loses The Game and says so, everyone else in the room will lose The Game and say so, which will cause everyone in the room to lose The Game and say so… on and on without end. Some schools have banned The Game precisely because it can sometimes cause an ongoing disruption – particularly when a student loses The Game during a test, and says so.
How do you make others lose The Game? You can make others lose The Game via text or email, or by passing a note – or by wearing a T-shirt that says ‘You Just Lost The Game’. The only problem is that whenever you make someone lose The Game in this fashion, they’ll say ‘I lost The Game’ and then you’ll lose too. An even sneakier strategy is making other players lose The Game while you’re not around. Write the phrase ‘The Game’ or ‘You just lost The Game’ on a piece of paper and sneak it into a friend’s schoolbook, or their desk, for example. Some players write ‘The Game’ or ‘You just lost The Game’ on five-pound notes, on stickers, on webpages, and other places that people might stumble upon. You might get into trouble for trying some of these strategies – so avoid vandalism and graffiti. We’ve scattered the phrases ‘The Game’ and ‘You just lost The Game’ throughout this book. Now you know why. Play the game
(You Just Lost the Game)
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