I recently watched “Weird Science” for the first time and had to laugh at the goofy portrayal of technology in John Hughes’s (relatively lackluster) 1985 movie, in which two adolescent boys build the perfect woman with their computer.
They wear bras on their heads, the earth shakes, lightning strikes, there’s a lot of techno-gadgetry, geometric designs, and heavy application of dry ice, and then boom–a barbie doll magically transforms into Kelly LeBrock. Weird science? It all looks more like a séance.
Watching this scene in 2014 it’s easy to laugh at 1985’s hokey misconceptions. But it made me stop to think about how computers must have looked like magic in 1985, creating feelings of extreme possibility in the popular imagination. Leaving the troubling gender politics of this film aside, how crazy and awesome is it that these kids took on the task of making something as complex as a human being with technology?
Kids today consume a lot of technology, like we all do, but I wonder how many of them feel like they can actually make anything with it? It’s an irony of our age that sleek, user-friendly interfaces have attracted more people than ever to use technology but have simultaneously discouraged people from learning much at all about how the technology they use is made.
One could say the same thing about a lot of endeavors that have been pushed to the side by modern convenience. Many of us don’t know how to cook anymore, or how to grow food. We don’t know how to build shelters or make our own clothes. Many of us may accept our ignorance of these “unnecessary” maker skills because they seem old-fashioned–but isn’t it strange that tech skills–the most modern of life skills–fall into the same category of things-we-let-other-people-know-for-us?
I know, I know–guilt trip. I’m not saying that you personally can or should know how to do everything. But kids have the energy and enthusiasm to at least want to explore their ability to make things using their hands, tools, creativity, and technology. I think we should encourage them.
