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Benjamin Franklin: Maker, Hacker,

published at 1:09am on 09/16/11

With Maker Faire coming up this weekend, I wanted to remind everyone of one of this nation’s earliest hackers, Benjamin Franklin, whose perspective on craft and making continues to be as relevant now as it was in 1718:

But my dislike to the trade continuing, my father was under apprehensions that if he did not find one for me more agreeable, I should break away and get to sea, as his son Josiah had done, to his great vexation. He therefore sometimes took me to walk with him, and see joiners, bricklayers, turners, braziers, etc., at their work, the he might observe my inclination, and endeavor to fix it on some trade or other on land. It has ever since been a pleasure to me to see good workmen handle their tools; and it has been useful to me, having learnt so much by it as to be able to do little jobs myself in my house when a workman could not readily be got, and to construct little machines for my experiments, while the intention of making the experiment was fresh and warm in my mind.

I can’t even imagine what good Ben would have done with today’s tools at his disposal and I have little doubt he would have thrived in a world of Arduinos and Makerbots.

Filed under: Observations, Technology