As I write this, I’m somewhere over Nebraska, squished in the back of coach class.

A perfect opportunity to re-read TED 2006 speaker Neil Gershenfeld’s delightful book Fab. 

Flipping through it reminded me once again of his exciting vision for our near-term material future.  Imagine a world where anyone can make anything.  Where, by using the fabrication equivalent of the personal computer or inkjet printer, everyone can be literate in – and have more control over – their immediate built environment.

Does your pet parrot need a web-surfing device?  Make it.  Want a solution to prevent red eye in your digital pics?  Make it (Alan Alda did).  Want a bicycle, boat, broom, or billiard table that really fits your unique life circumstances?  Make it.  Feel the power.

When I was a practicing mechanical engineer, I used to pooh-pooh this kind of thinking.  Surely my hard-won craft was beyond the realm of the masses?  Not any more.  The complex, powerful CAD tools I used then were a pain to use, and they’re still a pain.  What I want, and what the world needs, are fabrication machines and creative tools that are truly disruptive in nature, bringing “good enough” performance to a much broader audience seeking self-expression and actualization.  My little daughter is only just mastering the gumming of Cheerios right now, but how cool would it be to have her slicing aluminum with an Easy-Bake Laser Cutter when she’s five or six?  I hope it happens.

Tangibility is its own reward.  What do you want to make today?