> [!NOTE]+ Meta > Author:: Freeman J. Dyson > Reference:: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.280.5366.1014 > Date:: 2021 > Tags:: #warp > WeftLinks:: [[Scientific value of craft]] > Claim:: [[Claim - The physical manipulation of materials can help solve an abstract problem]] > [!SUMMARY] Summary > Freeman Dyson argues that skilled craftsmanship has evolved from traditional skills to innovation in fields such as software and biotechnology. ### Highlights >the human heritage that gave us tool-making hands and inquisitive brains did not die. In every human culture, the hand and brain work together to create the style that makes a civilization. In every civilization, the skilled artificer has an honored place beside the scribe and the shaman. Our own civilization is no exception. During the first half of the 20th century, as the young people of the next generation forgot the skills of my grandfather, they learned new skills and started new industries. They built radio transmitters and receivers, microscopes and telescopes, motor bicycles and flying machines. They bred hybrid corn and new varieties of flowers and fruit. Each of these industries grew out of small beginnings and flourished as a craft industry before evolving into large-scale organization and mass production. >Science gave them their chance to build things that opened new horizons, just as their ancestors built ships to explore new continents. >Wherever experimental science is done, young men and women are learning to build instruments, using the new materials and new concepts that science has made available. And then, the crafts that were nurtured in the laboratory find uses in the world outside. The same young people launch start-up companies to manufacture and sell instruments to other users. And a new craft industry grows. Around every large center of scientific research we find a swarm of craft industries. Some of them outgrow their origins and become large-scale manufacturing enterprises. >Wherever serious computing was done, young people learned to write software and to use it. In spite of the rise of Microsoft and other giant producers, software remains in large part a craft industry. Because of the enormous variety of specialized applications, there will always be room for individuals to write software based on their unique knowledge. >The craft of writing software will not become obsolete. >We remain tool-making animals, and science will continue to exercise the creativity programmed into our genes.