The Tinkerers

When Alexander Graham Bell beat Thomas Edison to the invention of the telephone, Edison fiddled around with the transmitter and receiver until he produced an equally revolutionary machine – the phonograph. When Thomas MacDonald observed the hardship that a lack of good roads imposed on his fellow Iowans, he began a road-building project that eventually morphed into the interstate highway system. Some of the people profiled in this book attended the finest engineering schools in the world; some, like Microsoft’s former chief technology officer Nathan Myhrvold, had no formal training in their chosen fields. Some see themselves as solo visionaries; others emphasize the importance of working in teams. What binds them together is an ability to imagine new systems and subvert old ones, to see fresh potential in existing technologies, and to apply technical know-how to the problems of their day.

In The Tinkerers, Alec Foege presents a version of American history told through feats of engineering, large and small. He argues that reports of tinkering’s death have been greatly exaggerated; since World War II, it has been the guiding force behind projects from corporate-sponsored innovations (the personal computer, Ethernet) to smaller scale inventions with great potential (a machine that can make low-cost eyeglass lenses for people in impoverished countries, a device that uses lasers to shoot malarial mosquitoes out of the sky). Think tanks and companies have recognized the benefits of tinkering and have done their best to harness and institutionalize it. But as systems become more complex, budding inventors may become intimidated. Foege argues that this would be an enormous loss to a nation that achieved its strength largely thanks to the accomplishments of its innovators. He shows us how tinkering remains, in new and unexpected forms, at the heart of American society and culture.

当亚历山大·格雷厄姆·贝尔击败托马斯·爱迪生发明电话时，爱迪生一直在摆弄发射器和接收器，直到他制造出了同样具有革命性的机器–留声机。当托马斯·麦克唐纳观察到缺乏良好道路给他的爱荷华州同胞带来的困难时，他开始了一个道路建设项目，这个项目最终演变为州际高速公路系统。这本书中提到的一些人上过世界上最好的工程学校；还有一些人，比如微软前首席技术官内森·米尔沃德，在他们选择的领域没有接受过正式培训。一些人认为自己是独行侠；另一些人则强调团队合作的重要性。将它们结合在一起的是一种想象新系统和颠覆旧系统的能力，从现有技术中发现新的潜力，并将技术诀窍应用于他们那个时代的问题。

在……里面 修补工亚历克·福奇通过大大小小的工程壮举讲述了美国历史的一个版本。他认为，有关修修补补的死亡的报道被严重夸大了；自第二次世界大战以来，修修补补一直是项目背后的指导力量，从企业赞助的创新(个人电脑、以太网)到具有巨大潜力的较小规模的发明(一种可以为贫困国家的人们制造低成本眼镜的机器，一种使用激光从天空中射出疟疾蚊子的设备)。智库和公司已经认识到修修补补的好处，并尽最大努力将其利用和制度化。但随着系统变得更加复杂，初出茅庐的发明家可能会变得害怕。福格认为，对于一个在很大程度上得益于创新者的成就而获得强大的国家来说，这将是一个巨大的损失。他向我们展示了修修补补如何以新的和意想不到的形式在美国社会和文化的核心仍然存在。