The quote that I have chosen: “I am not a maker. In a framing and value system is about creating artifacts, specifically ones you can sell, I am a less valuable human.”
It’s a short quote, but it really sums up the essence of the article. The absurdity of the phrase “I am a less valuable human” really highlights the flawed perspective that society as a whole views those who “make” versus those who don’t. After all, every reader would agree (I hope) that people who don’t fall into the “maker” category are just as valuable humans, yet the author does an excellent job of showing how our collective attitudes indicate otherwise.
This quote also hits home for me personally. More specifically, this quote put into words a feeling that I’ve always had but never rose to my conscious thoughts. For me, I can relate to this quote heavily. I often directly determine whether it’s been a good day or not based on the concrete objectives I achieve on that day. From school assignments, side projects, or progress on my on-campus job, I sometimes feel worthless if I feel that I accomplished less than I was capable of. What’s more, I find that my sense of self-worth is highly dependent on superficial achievements: achieving a certain grade in a class, going a certain time in a swimming race, securing a certain internship. Reading this article helped remind me that the titles and accolades that I achieve don’t define me and certainly not my value as a person.
It’s clear how the advent of computing has revolutionized the sciences and industry, but it seems that its full capabilities have not yet been realized in other fields. This term, I’m most excited to learn about the ways that modern computational power can facilitate the presentation of the creative arts in refreshing, groundbreaking ways. For instance, I stumbled across this website: https://mkorostoff.github.io/hundred-thousand-faces/. I think there is another way that would convey this message more effectively, and it wouldn’t be possible without the technology we have today.
