Part I: The decline of meaningful quality
Hello there! I thought I’d start to tackle this mountainous topic of machine versus handmade and perhaps, more for myself, shed some light on it. There were so many rabbit holes to go off into and other avenues that linked directly to this, but for the sake of simplicity and clarity, I’ve tried to remain as concise as possible without, hopefully, missing out the major key points. There will be factors and considerations I haven’t mentioned, I’m aware this topic has a lot more to it then what I’ve written here, but perhaps see this more as an opening to the conversation (not that it isn’t been going on already), rather then an encylopedia on it. Hope you enjoy and have a great day.
Since man concieved ideas and shaped them with his hands, we have always had an urge to build and craft. Whether it’s a sharp flint attached to a stick as a spear or intricate ceiling paintings for Cathedrals. We have always had an inherent desire to bring life the ideas and inspirations we see around us, to mould and shape with our personal influences and experiences; tainting each object we craft with our fingertips. Fingertips that encapsulate an era, a moment in brief time full to the brim with current culture, trends, societal expectations, wars, opportunities. For our whole lives we have only known the impression of man on all items, with it’s imperfections yet constantly striving for subjective perfection.
Yet, we’re now in the deep depths of a crossing. Human to Machine. The common argument that has been on mankinds mind for years, the anticipation of flying cars, sleek skyscrapers lining the horizons and automation being the definition of life. With the idealised future we’ve set before us and now already on a one track road towards it, it seems that this vision isn’t so far out of reach anymore. Machines are taking, and have taken, over manufacturing at an alarming rate, taking positions we once considered irreplaceable and assembling products faster then we’ve seen before. Efficiency of production is at it’s highest, with consumerism also following. Though, this unchartered terriority of plenty is attractive it might have some unwanted side effects that we’re still unaware. We’re living in an ocean of abundance but there’s one thing we know. It’s killing us. For example, diabetes is now classified as one of the lead causes of death and obseity being one of the lead causes for heart disease, we’re suffering from success quite literally. Our food is in abundance, next delievery from a different country, hot water is on tap.
This acknowledgement of abundance isn’t a criticism; we’re able to enjoy the luxuries of life and more people are now able to do this, with the standard of living being above basic necessities in nearly most countries. Yet, it doesn’t negate the fact that we’re still consuming at an alarming rate and it’s having a detrimental effect, not just on us, but on our ecosystems and the environment around us. Not only this, but we’ve also had to made some sacrifices along the way. For us to produce as such a speed, our main focus has to be quantity.
Our strive toward machine produced products means we’re losing our touch and connection with the items we make. We’re nose-diving head first into a quantity driven world and we’re caring less and less about origins of how objects are manufactured and instead we prize a next day delivery. We’re consuming more, means our capacity for handmade products can’t match the constant demands so therefore our usage for machines has to increase so that the gaps are filled in, eventually taking over the whole production line. This constant push towards chronic consumerism, fed by our hijacked desires, completely distorts our perceptions of the crafting and production process entirely. The rug has been pulled from under our feet and now we have no baseline to compare to, we’re free swimming in the open ocean and we can’t see the ground. That’s not to say the ground isn’t there, it’s just out of our sight.
Machines can create a mass quantity of repeated products, they can even create items of the highest quality but that’s the not the issue at the root. The main principles of the Art&Craft Movement was that what and how we produce is a reflection of the current state of society. How can this be true if we’re not the ones making anything anymore? Machines don’t necessarily mean less quality products because they can never be handmade, but by their nature, they are made to be efficient, cut costs and save time. Does the quality of machine-made versus Man-made remain equal then? From an objective persepective, perhaps they are. But subjectively, it’s hard to agree. The difference between a craftsman who has spent their entire life sharpening one skill. You can see their work saturated in passion and labour, the slight idiosyncrasies that only personal experiences can taint each piece with. No body else can or will ever be able to replicate the exact same piece with the same fingerprints and breath that a human can. THIS is quality. The stains of human touch within craft. Mirroring the depths of the soul, mind, and body within pencil marks. A machine has none of these things. Again, that’s not to say a machines job is completely nullefied. I think, therefore, there needs to be 2 forms of quality. The objective and subjective kind. Objectively, a machine can produce items of the highest-quality, but subjectively a human can soak a product in a story without it necessairly having the best objective quality, but it can still be of high subjective quality. Allowing connections, a relationship, to form with the customer and the item. I personally believe this is what makes quality. It’s almost like the beauty versus personality debate. Hence, why I called this meaningful quality. Something with depth and thought behind each stroke of the brush adds quality, not just perfection.
Yet, another point can be made that producing quality with meaning, beauty and function is the byproduct of integral values and morals; where what we’re creating and producing is a direct representation of how well society is functioning. By the use of machines, we’re dehumanising the manufacturing process. This alienates us in understanding an entire part of the of creation that exists within society.
As we distance ourselves further and further from crafting with our own hands and minds, we grow out of touch with what makes up part of our humanity. The argument can be made that we’re creating in other aspects, creating AI, more machines, the technological revolution, but the question remains for what goal? Why are we creating AI? To give ourselves more time? To solve issues like poverty, corruption, collasping economies? I think I can safely say that it isn’t AI we need to solve the problems we face now. We need to reflect in ourselves, re-address the human condition and actually think for once. We need to slow down and take a look behind us to see how far we’ve come. So much focus is placed on efficiency, optimisation, profit, money. These things have their place, and rightly so, but anything can become detrimental once it’s not moderated. Extremes are dangerous. We’re holding our breath as a society as decisions are being made without any consideration of what kind future we actually want.
This complete disgreard for tradition, the ways of the past, will bite us in the foot and we will end up paying for it in more ways then we would like.
