Maker

Tim Anderson

[.HEIRLOOM TECHNOLOGY] FINDING THE TECHNOLOGY OF THE FUTUR.E FROM THE FORGOTTEN IDEAS OF THE PAST

Every once in a while, I find that I’ve wasted years of my life on some problem only to discover that the solution already exists. Reinventing the wheel. The “not invented here” syndrome. My granddad would have called it “ignorance,” “stupidity,” or “vast undertakings with half-vast ideas.” It’s a lot easier to spot when other people are doing it. One of these other people once told me with pride, “We do our research in the lab, not the library.”

I just saw the remains of their machine sitting in a hallway.

It took 15 geniuses (tested) 15 years (sleep-deprived) to finish. Not only can’t they give away their machine, they’ll have to pay someone to dispose of it. A little time in the library could have saved them all that effort just to poison a landfill at great expense.

Choosing the right problem is, of course, at least as important as how to solve it. So I’ll let the experts pick a few problems, and then I'll try to find heirloom-technology solutions.

Photograph courtesy of Getty Images

38 Make: Volume 01