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Homosapiens tools

Updated: Apr 23, 2024


I've always had a great interest in tools, whether digital or analog. In particular, analog tools represent to me the very essence of what a tool means. When people think of an analog tool, they probably envision a screwdriver or a hex key. However, with our digital tools, the perception is different, as they do not exist in the material world. We never touch them with our hands; instead, we interact through interfaces like a keyboard, a screen, and a mouse. Despite driving progress and access to information, this distance between us and digital tools leaves room for many things to come between us and the work.


Since I was very young, my dad's typewriter fascinated me. Countless times, when I accompanied him to his office, I would patiently wait for him to finish his work so I could press those buttons that quickly activated levers and stamped different letters on the paper. I would pretend to write some important document. On the other hand, visiting my uncle's workshop, who was a mechanic, was also fascinating to me. The boxes full of tools of different sizes and designs, each destined for a specific function, seemed like toys in a store to me. Tools always inspired me to do something with them.


After finishing high school, I started studying automotive mechanics, unknowingly more attracted to the tools than to the cars themselves. Before, cars were also analog tools. But more complex, or what I would call a "symphonic tool," where heaps of mechanical components come together to form this great artifact capable of performing multiple simultaneous functions, such as moving, braking, and steering the car, among other things. When I was studying mechanics, it was also the time when cars began to adopt more and more digital components, and what was already clearly coming by then were vehicles increasingly less repairable, designed not to be repaired by anyone, but to replace components, and much less would they be cars that would remain functional for generations.


This was not the real reason I left mechanics, but this situation made me less resistant to changing course. My dad convinced me to study engineering since he, like most parents of that generation, was convinced that a professional career would guarantee me a better future. So my path continued towards university. However, by that time, another of my hobbies had filled that void and had me trapped with its tools, in this case, for climbing. When climbing, I found a sport that not only offered a physical challenge, helping me stay healthy and fit, but also had a technical and safety component. Where a bunch of different devices with fascinating mechanisms are used, and where it was almost guaranteed that the digital world would not have space to replace these sports-related tools. So, for over twenty years, I have practiced climbing and collected all kinds of climbing gear, which has required knowledge and skills to be able to use it safely.


During all those years, my tools filled me with joy and excitement. The desire to use them well often was more motivating than any climb. However, not long ago, my relationship with climbing began to change. This is due to multiple reasons that have nothing to do with my equipment. Despite having extensive knowledge in various subjects related to them, at this point in my life, I am not climbing as I used to. Climbing has taken a back seat, and probably even to the third and beyond. New goals and projects larger than climbing have entered my life, and my tools now spend a lot of time stored away.



Unaware of my strange attraction to tools, other tools began to enter my life, occupying the space that my climbing equipment had occupied for a long time. I never intended consciously to replace them, but curiosity and the need to perform complex tasks with tools and my hands have always been present in me. That's how I learned to weld and started building a variety of projects, from furniture to structures. I also started remodeling my parents' house, and before I knew it, my tools were sufficient to carry out almost any necessary repairs in the house.


Over time, more tools were added. Colored pencils, a pen, and the notebooks in which I have written and drawn for the past four years. Writing for pleasure was the result of overcoming childhood traumas, but that's another story. Both drawing and writing by hand became part of my daily life, to the point where writing, in particular, has become my favorite hobby.


Writing is a very particular activity, where with basic and simple tools, something of unlimited complexity can be created. The tools we use for writing are analog technologies that to this day have not been completely replaced, and in which these technologies have been polished to become absolutely exquisite and advanced. Nowadays, few things work as well as a good pencil or pen. Likewise, we have endless qualities and options of paper, where the difference between a cheap notebook and a finer one lies in minimal details.


On the other hand, many analog tools perform specialized and simple functions, such as cutting, drilling, or turning a screw, while a pen can write and draw. A pen can communicate, leave messages, and convey information, and this is not a basic function, but one of the broadest and most complex tasks our brain can perform. Neither a screwdriver nor a wireless rotary hammer with functions and a 1250-watt motor could create something as broad and complex as what can be done with a pen.


In this sense, a pen and paper represent the pinnacle of technological evolution and have almost reached the maximum evolution within their own standards. It is unlikely that if we buy Pen X today, Pen XI next year will leave the former as an outdated model. Many of these analog technologies have been perfected to points where it is very difficult for them to fail or be damaged, and they are objects that can last a lifetime and more. And if they were to fail, they are so simple that any Joe with a little skill could repair them.


A peculiarity of analog tools is that they are used with hands and require precision in their handling. Legible handwriting requires our hands to perform a precise dance when drawing each letter on the paper. This level of precision also requires us to be completely present in what we are doing. If we think about something else while writing, we cannot maintain smooth writing; likewise, if we look away while hammering, the hammer head can easily strike our finger, leaving us with an unpleasant reminder of the importance of paying attention when using these tools.


It could be said that a good tool is one that helps us perform our work more efficiently and quickly. They should facilitate task execution with better quality. For example, a pen is designed to write in the shortest time possible and with the best quality. If we tried to write with a chisel on a large stone, the work would be much less efficient, and the result would be less convenient.


A good tool should also encourage our concentration on work, not only to avoid damage to the work or ourselves, but also to focus enough and develop the skill necessary to create increasingly complex things with richer details.


Here is where the difference between analog and digital tools is highlighted again. For example, a pen is designed to allow us to execute complex movements with our hands. It allows us to feel the texture of the paper and observe how the ink draws each letter at a speed that adds extra layers of meaning to what we are doing. This process involves a smooth communication between our brain, our hand, the paper, and our eyes, which favors the experience of reaching flow states. In these states, we are able to exert ourselves without feeling it, time seems to dilate, and everything else disappears; it is in those moments when we feel and perform our best.


Translating this experience to a computer, the factors change significantly. The texture of the buttons is always the same, the movements are minimally complex, and the physical contact between us and the letters disappears. Although typing on a keyboard can lead us to a state of flow, this process does not favor our attention, and here lies the most critical detail.


Computers are designed to automate tasks and make us think and do less and less, leaving room for our minds to wander. For example, when typing on a computer, it will highlight every mistake made, diverting our attention to editing errors prematurely and distracting us from what we are trying to write. Additionally, the computer is not just a writing tool; it is also a tool for communicating with the rest of the world and has access to an amount of information that we can never fully assimilate, generating endless possibilities for distraction.


Not needing to have good handwriting and spelling makes us less skilled at working with our hands and more dependent on software. Ironically, today there are more spelling errors in newspapers than twenty years ago. Now, architects design their houses in software that accelerates the process, and the houses end up looking like simple blocks with windows, under the label of "minimalism". Thus, no one would be able to hand-draw detailed plans of a building like the National Theater, which has been an icon of beauty for over a hundred years and remains relevant today.



These distractions, as everyone knows, are just the tip of the iceberg. Social networks, chats, video platforms, and shopping platforms are designed to capture our attention as much as possible. Because that attention that we used to devote to creating complicated works is very valuable. And if there's one thing I've learned from analog tools, it's that the possibility of getting distracted using a tool is the enemy of good work and the possibility of harming ourselves when using it.


Many might think that a computer or a smartphone cannot physically harm us, and they are partly right; a computer is not used to create or modify physical objects, but virtual objects, like the ones inside our minds. It is then in our minds where a digital tool can harm us. And how does it feel to receive an impact from a digital tool? Undoubtedly, it doesn't hurt like a hammer blow, but it is experienced first as a procrastination blow that leads us to a roller coaster of entertainment and distraction, making us feel that reality lacks meaning, that nothing matters, and that we don't know what is real. Many, still confused, desperately seek for their digital tool to have the answer.


Eliminating distraction is something we can achieve with some tricks; we can try to force our digital tools to reduce distractions, but fostering attention is the next level. The ability to foster attention at work and demand the user's execution skill promote mastery. And by developing mastery, the possibility of creating increasingly detailed works with elements of greater complexity arises.


While construction tools have not experienced many changes, design tools have. Digital tools have transformed the way we perform our tasks, our creative and design processes, thus modifying our environment and, consequently, our culture. Therefore, today we find ourselves in a world where buildings no longer stand out for their beauty, art is empty and devoid of meaning, music tends to be vulgar and violent, and culture becomes unbearable, sickening, and self-destructive.


This is how we went from having beautiful and detail-rich architecture, worthy of preserving to this day, and having extremely realistic, detailed, and beautiful art. However, today, we observe a shift towards what is called modern art, which replaces beauty with minimalism and abstraction. Likewise, we have changed beautiful classical architecture for brutalism, massive, gray, and lifeless.


Despite my clear distrust of digital technologies, I tend to think that they have enormous potential if used appropriately. Much of the problem with digital technologies is the speed at which they evolve, which does not give us time to understand them deeply and leaves us unconscious of the consequences of their misuse. The faster we go, the more we lose control, and the harsher the consequences of our mistakes will be.


Quality is another wonderful detail of analog tools, which in general are made to last for generations. Unlike digital ones, which are not only not manufactured with the intention of working for a long time but are designed to be damaged or become obsolete. Thus, most digital tools are completely disposable and another way to produce enormous amounts of waste. This idea that everything is disposable or becomes obsolete, and that it is replaceable, is unfortunately a notion that also permeates our society, where friends and interpersonal relationships have become increasingly interchangeable, from the workplace to the family.


In general, it seems positive to consider investing in something that will work well for a lifetime, or at least most of it. That sounds like a good investment. On the other hand, the opposite sounds like a great frustration, which I find quite familiar after having to change or renew computers and smartphones several times, which have sometimes become more of an obstacle than a help or have simply stopped working.


Analog tools that have endured and are still being used have advanced greatly in quality and durability, managing to fulfill their function optimally and thus reaching the most advanced version that a technology can achieve. This, of course, in terms of this technology not seeking to do the work for us, but to facilitate it being done in the most efficient way and with the best possible quality.


Unfortunately, digital technology has been labeled as disposable or upgradable from the beginning, and it is not a technology that we want to reach its pinnacle of development because the pinnacle of digital technology development involves discarding us. Perhaps this digital obscurantism serves as a stepping stone to, with what is learned, take our analog tools to higher levels or to create tools designed to help us do better work, faster, without losing our precious attention. And not designed to work for us or to replace us.

Returning to analog tools can serve as a grounding line, where experiencing the consciousness and attention that well-made things require; to then return to digital tools and make them work well and for us. I have no doubt that, knowing how to use this potential properly, we can bring a new renaissance to our culture, where beauty and quality become the norm again.


People are not replaceable. Let's not give up control, our culture, and our health, to unnatural ideals that will destroy us.




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