Thursday, August 19, 2010

It’s all developing nicely, but… just catch up when a great path is found, try to keep up at the head of the pack, or try to forge our own path?

I don’t know why I am this way, but I am.  I’m not outwardly competitive.  Logically I simply love the idea of the entire community moving forward as quickly as possible, and benefiting everyone.  However, on more than one occasion I read someone’s blog post and I get that twinge of '”crap, are they going to post the idea I had before I get around to it?”  I get that competitive urge of I need to make sure my idea is out there first!…  but really, I have to remind myself, as I do, that this endeavor is NOT so any one person can go down in history as having discovered “the best way to print”, it’s for ALL of us to be able to print reliable useful items.  Coming from a traditional product design background, the idea that we’re all in it together is a little foreign, so it takes some getting used to :)
Anyway – it was just an idea that I keep coming back to, and that is – you don’t have to be first with the idea and it doesn’t matter if you end up re-doing someone else’s work.  Re-doing the work, validates it.  Posting about it as well gives others more experimental data to work with/from.  And the fact is, even the best of us aren’t necessarily documenting every single step of what we do.  (sure some are)
The overall point here is a reminder (perhaps only to myself) to enjoy “MAKING”, it’s why I started this in the first place.
So, whether you want to lead the pack or follow the well worn path – make sure your end goal isn’t about others, but rather about what makes you excited.  That excitement is what will have you producing your best work.  Competition is a good thing, as long as it’s in the spirit of fun and sharing… at least as far as this project goes.
Big thanks goes out to the pioneers of RepRap.  And a big Kudos goes out to those that have built their lives around bringing it to people! Hats off.

It’s about time I post a photo of my setup! (yes, it’s with me in a hotel, thanks to my handy Pelican Case!

ArPeBot

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you so much for your comments/feedback/thoughts :D