[Sketching15] Sketching in Hardware 2015 Update #1.1

[Mike Kuniavsky]

Several folks have asked me about the theme this year. As always, you're 
free to talk about whatever you want, but the theme this year is 
"utopias". Here are my thoughts on why I chose it, inspired by Jason Kelly 
Johnson's response when I wanted to hold Sketching at Arcosanti, an 
earlier and equally as visionary project as Biosphere 2:

Implicit in every tool is a vision of the world, a utopia. In the 
enthusiasm of invention it’s easy to imagine how our new tools will make 
the world better, maybe even perfect in some way. Such visions inspire us 
late into the night, whether to solder or to paint placards for a 
demonstration, and they keep projects going when challenges move the goal 
much further than was originally estimated. Yet when projects really don’t 
work out, when difficulties grow unsurmountable (as they often do), 
utopian visions can be dashed, abandoned for sad bitterness. The final 
crowdfunding update is never sent, the protest placards are packed away. 
During this Sketching in Hardware I’d like to examine our fondest hopes, 
our biggest plans, and our bitterest disappointments.


-- 
Mike Kuniavsky
mikek at sketching-in-hardware.com