Traditional crafts of the future, what might they be, and how will they be made?

[billw]

The craftsman still had to be skilled to use a tool whether manual or powered. Design and creativity are human traits that machines won’t replicate in our lifetimes.

surely in the future there will be those who do stuff by hand, those who use the machines we have now, and then those who use the next generation of machinery that might have functionality we’ve not dreamed of.

 

[Awac]

"I believe there is no deep difference between what can be achieved by a biological brain and what can be achieved by a computer. It, therefore, follows that computers can, in theory, emulate human intelligence — and exceed it" Stephen Hawking 2017

In our lifetimes? Look how fast it is going. They are calling phones smart now. I remember being at a phone box at a certain time....

Yes I believe you can be skilled with hand or power tool, but that relies on the brain telling the hand where to go. Ruskin's key phrase for me is “separation of the intellectual act of design from the manual act of physical creation was both socially and aesthetically damaging".

I am struggling with not trying to sound like a paranoid futuristic prepper with a bug out bag of hand tools from the 17th century ready to remake Jamestown (that didn't go all to plan..).
Do you think it is better to bring a formal title and different disciplines to crafts with clear limits so they can not be absorbed or diluted with advances in AI?

"A man at work, making something which he feels will exist because he is working at it and wills it, is exercising the energies of his mind and soul as well as of his body. Memory and imagination help him as he works". Morris puts it quite well what I want to preserve.

 

[paulrbarnard]

The craftsman still had to be skilled to use a tool whether manual or powered. Design and creativity are human traits that machines won’t replicate in our lifetimes.

surely in the future there will be those who do stuff by hand, those who use the machines we have now, and then those who use the next generation of machinery that might have functionality we’ve not dreamed of.

Don’t be so sure about design and creativity. I think it’s true for completely new things but for variations on a theme AI is getting there.

 

[Sideways]

Idea: "Additive Manufacturing" (that's 3D printing, laser sintering of powders and all the other technology that builds things up instead of cutting them out) could eventually become the norm.
At that point, making anything by cutting it out of a block of wood, metal, plastic or stone whether by hand or with machine tools might be regarded as hopelessly wasteful / inefficient / archaic.

 

[Cabinetman]

That’s an interesting idea Sideways, and it’s the first step towards Star Trek replicators. But people will always admire the form and beauty of natural materials like wood. People who can manipulate wood in the future may become prized and their work highly sought-after. But then again people have been predictably totally wrong in the past trying to foresee the future,.
—-Just been watching 1970s Jerry Anderson's creation UFO, quite wonderful, there are desk telephones (Trim phone style) and phones in cars with a big curly wire and the lead character is sat at his desk using a slide rule.
The submarine crew including the women are wearing string vests – I kid you not. So I’m probably just as wrong and miles off the mark. Ian

 

[Awac]

Idea: "Additive Manufacturing" (that's 3D printing, laser sintering of powders and all the other technology that builds things up instead of cutting them out) could eventually become the norm.
At that point, making anything by cutting it out of a block of wood, metal, plastic or stone whether by hand or with machine tools might be regarded as hopelessly wasteful / inefficient / archaic.

Very perceptive. I had not considered creating by addition rather than subtraction as the dominant technique, quite normal in Art both, but I had woodworking blinkers on, and I should also be thinking of all crafts.
3D printing is here right now (the nearest I am to that is my Disston 3D saw vice lol).
It might be born from a lack of resources as the population expands, and could be seen as environmentally destructive to not use recycled material (real wood will be reserved for an income level far above what mere mortals can afford). That would change all the tools as we know it, the method of work, everything! This will make my head hurt today as I shingle a shed roof, better enjoy it while I can!

 

[pe2dave]

A while back, the company I worked for made integrated circuits, designed and built them.
Realising this was outdated, they started to buy them in.
BUT... the retained a few of the skilled designers. Why? To evaluate the offerings from the outsource suppliers.
Apply this to woodwork, where manual (??) work is done by machines. Who will program the machines, evaluate the results etc? Hopefully the few remaining 'crafts people'
Then there will be the 'dinasaurs' (such as myself) who enjoy using hand tools, not dissimilar to those used 500 years ago.

 

[Awac]

That’s an interesting idea Sideways, and it’s the first step towards Star Trek replicators. But people will always admire the form and beauty of natural materials like wood. People who can manipulate wood in the future may become prized and their work highly sought-after. But then again people have been predictably totally wrong in the past trying to foresee the future,.
—-Just been watching 1970s Jerry Anderson's creation UFO, quite wonderful, there are desk telephones (Trim phone style) and phones in cars with a big curly wire and the lead character is sat at his desk using a slide rule.
The submarine crew including the women are wearing string vests – I kid you not. So I’m probably just as wrong and miles off the mark. Ian

Ian. I remember watching Jerry Anderson's creations when I was younger (the UFO interceptor was so cool) and thinking, wouldn't it be marvellous to have a TV screen that was portable.....seemed such a wild leap of imagination at the time that every house would have them on a telephone.

People who can manipulate wood in the future may become prized, but also might working in wood become as unacceptable as say ivory? If environmental degradation continues trees are simply not going to be available for use as a hobby or furniture. Woodworkers should be a strong voice for environmental regeneration, it is in our own interest.

Years ago I was doing a very, very boring job and someone had left their book. So I picked it up and it was about a big game hunter and his exploits (let me state for the record I don't agree with slaughtering wild animals for vanity), but what was interesting is that he recognised their would be nothing left to slaughter if they were not protected (must have been written 1950-60's), and rich people would pay handsomely so they could slaughter something, which would allow protection.
So going with that, do you think craft (with natural materials) will still be here but out of reach for many of us except a few specialists (think high end cabinet makers in string vests...)? Perhaps the craft fraternity should become more of a political pressure group to protect what they value? Is that the way to save craft in the future? Phew, big thoughts..head hurts...must go chop something...

 

[Awac]

A while back, the company I worked for made integrated circuits, designed and built them.
Realising this was outdated, they started to buy them in.
BUT... the retained a few of the skilled designers. Why? To evaluate the offerings from the outsource suppliers.
Apply this to woodwork, where manual (??) work is done by machines. Who will program the machines, evaluate the results etc? Hopefully the few remaining 'crafts people'
Then there will be the 'dinasaurs' (such as myself) who enjoy using hand tools, not dissimilar to those used 500 years ago.

"I believe there is no deep difference between what can be achieved by a biological brain and what can be achieved by a computer. It, therefore, follows that computers can, in theory, emulate human intelligence — and exceed it" Stephen Hawking 2017

Hi Dave.This is why Artificial Intelligence is so disturbing, it is coming. It is a robot, robot in Czech means slave, and a slave does not need paying. The car industry used to have many skilled people, robots have replaced the skilled manual labour, now when it replaces the skilled intellectual labour we have a problem.
If then it reaches sentient thought (Sentience is the capacity to feel perceive or experience subjectively) then it would be slavery to own a machine. Can a machine have rights? If deemed as sentient yes. Might seemed far fetched, but people once thought much the same about other people having lesser rights in the world (some still do).

 

[Jacob]

"I believe there is no deep difference between what can be achieved by a biological brain and what can be achieved by a computer. It, therefore, follows that computers can, in theory, emulate human intelligence — and exceed it" Stephen Hawking 2017

Hi Dave.This is why Artificial Intelligence is so disturbing, it is coming. It is a robot, robot in Czech means slave, and a slave does not need paying. The car industry used to have many skilled people, robots have replaced the skilled manual labour, now when it replaces the skilled intellectual labour we have a problem.
If then it reaches sentient thought (Sentience is the capacity to feel perceive or experience subjectively) then it would be slavery to own a machine. Can a machine have rights? If deemed as sentient yes. Might seemed far fetched, but people once thought much the same about other people having lesser rights in the world (some still do).

Surely artificial intelligence began with the Abacus or similar? i.e.as tools to extend human intellectual capacity. Don't see any categorical difference with current "AI" developments.

 

[billw]

Sentient AI would be a phenomenal achievement to say the least. Fraught with danger though in all honesty.

As for the future of tools - well surely people will still have hobbies? People will need something to do with their time once robots do all the jobs.

 

[akirk]

Idea: "Additive Manufacturing" (that's 3D printing, laser sintering of powders and all the other technology that builds things up instead of cutting them out) could eventually become the norm.
At that point, making anything by cutting it out of a block of wood, metal, plastic or stone whether by hand or with machine tools might be regarded as hopelessly wasteful / inefficient / archaic.

Any time when you mix a bit of sawdust and glue and fill a crack - is that not additive construction?!
Segmented wood turning -> additive?
If so, then may be it will be about a re-imagining of how we handle materials, not just a change in materials...
Do your wood-turning, gather up the sawdust and shavings and put them into your 2050 built additive wood constructor and it will compress / inject / squirt it into a computer designed product - wood or...?

 

[Sideways]

It was an interesting insight to see one of the very few and very first parts made by 3D laser sintering of powder metal that has actually been approved for use in an aircraft.
I suspect there are very few of these yet. The tech is new and the QA and approval process is complex.
This was a replacement for a part previously made by fabrication.
The two most interesting things were
1. The organic look of the part driven by placing metal where the stresses required it and leaving out anything superfluous. Just the way that bones grow.
2. The massive weight saving that could be achieved because of (1) above.

It sounded like use of the technology for safety critical airframe components has a way to go - mostly in terms of learning how to test and predict performance and then take that through safety approvals - but the possibilities it will open up are amazing.

In a future where additive becomes the norm and kids start being taught with plasticine in school again, being able to think negatively and remove material to leave a product behind could become quite rare. It's what stone masons and woodcarvers do today, and it beats me how they visualise in 3D and manage to take away to leave sometimes amazingly fine and fluid detail.

 

[Spectric]

You are all making the assumption that there is a long term future for the human race, if we carry on as we have done and are doing then mass extinction will be inevitable and for the few that may survive then handtools and the ability to use them will determine their future.

 

[Sideways]

Most everything needs a factory reset once in a while !

 

[Cabinetman]

Crikey Spectric, I think you underestimate the ability of humans to get themselves out of trouble.
We will be colonising the moon and Mars within 15 years. Sounds ridiculous but I firmly believe it.

 

[Awac]

Perhaps we need a collective name.
I put forward Organic Living 'Brain And Senses, Tradition ARrested Development.
Hmm, maybe we need to shorten it. Make it catchy.

 

[Awac]

Oh yes, the boss computor has my number, it has warned me through a subtle hint. I have had a suggestion email for a book (completely unsolicited from me) from Bloomsbury.

About The New Politics of the Handmade
"Contemporary craft, art and design are inseparable from the flows of production and consumption under global capitalism. The New Politics of the Handmade features twenty-three voices who critically rethink the handmade in this dramatically shifting economy.

The authors examine craft within the conditions of extreme material and economic disparity; a renewed focus on labour and materiality in contemporary art and museums; the political dimensions of craftivism, neoliberalism, and state power; efforts toward urban renewal and sustainability; the use of digital technologies; and craft's connections to race, cultural identity and sovereignty in texts that criss-cross five continents. They claim contemporary craft as a dynamic critical position for understanding the most immediate political and aesthetic issues of our time".

 

[Awac]

Crikey Spectric, I think you underestimate the ability of humans to get themselves out of trouble.
We will be colonising the moon and Mars within 15 years. Sounds ridiculous but I firmly believe it.

No trees ,eco system, and a poor atmosphere, I think humans will feel right at home! Mind you all that new MDF dust will drift right away, no expensive dust collection systems. I vote we send Mr Trump first to test it out? I mean he needs a new job....

 

[Cabinetman]

Oh yes nothing like a bit of light reading, and that’s nothing like light reading, complete with new words- craftivism?
Just........why?
The last sentence, so they’re using craft like they used to use Mars bars as a way of comparing values?