Dean Kamen, Manual Laborers, and You

[Wayne TenBrink]

Back when I was in college, I did a lot of manual labor for summer jobs. I once spent a week shoveling manure in the basement of a barn. With every swing of the pitchfork, I told myself "Once you get that degree, you'll never have to do this again."

Fast forward 30 years. I have a 30 acre hobby farm and raise a few cattle of my own. I get to spend plenty of quality time in the basement of the barn with a pitchfork. Now, I just smile and think "This sure beats sitting in a staff meeting."

Manual labor is a necessary and honorable thing, but I'm glad I don't have to get up and do it every day on somebody else's terms.

And for what its worth, some of the best practical experience a mechanical engineer can ever get comes from working on farm equipment.

[,4lex S.]

It kills me everytime I hear this sort of thing, because a good 50% of my FRC team were the guys and galls who were aspiring to technical specialties or trades. Although someday in the future their jobs may become more mechanized, I doubt the human element will every be completely removed.

I really wish people could understand one simple point, and that is: if the machines can do easy manual labour, what is the next step? Simple, we make them better at it. Eventually they will get to the point of being able to engineer and discover things themselves... So really, if humans want to remain relevant at all, we will find a balance integrating humans and machines into jobs together. (I believe this point has been argued by more eloquant men than me since the start of the industrial revolution, so I encourage reading up on your dystopias [or just watching Terminator ])

The T in FIRST, technology is a very broad field, and I think we should include the technicians and tradespeople that make the way of the engineer possible in our envelope of inspiration.

[Dale(294engr]]

Originally Posted by Wayne TenBrink

Back when I was in college, I did a lot of manual labor for summer jobs. I once spent a week shoveling manure in the basement of a barn. With every swing of the pitchfork, I told myself "Once you get that degree, you'll never have to do this again."

Fast forward 30 years. I have a 30 acre hobby farm and raise a few cattle of my own. I get to spend plenty of quality time in the basement of the barn with a pitchfork. Now, I just smile and think "This sure beats sitting in a staff meeting."

Manual labor is a necessary and honorable thing, but I'm glad I don't have to get up and do it every day on somebody else's terms.

And for what its worth, some of the best practical experience a mechanical engineer can ever get comes from working on farm equipment.

Wayne... THANKS for putting this so succinctly in perspective.... I believe Dean will address this in a future release... clarifying his intended perspective.. or retract inadvertent faux pas...