The Art of Improvised Iron and Toaster Making

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This chapter recounts the adventures and challenges of smelting iron using unconventional techniques, including a microwave, and highlights the speaker's journey in constructing a toaster from scratch. It reflects on the complexities of sourcing materials, the creativity involved in using waste products, and the lessons learned through trial and error. Through humorous mishaps and deep reflections, the chapter contemplates humanity's impact on the environment and the collaborative nature of technological innovation.

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How hard is it to construct a toaster from scratch? Do we in modern times individually have more knowledge than individuals living 100 or 1,000 years ago? Should corporations be thought of as a kind of emergent artificial intelligence? To what extent are corporations — and more broadly, whole economies — aligned with human values? Which animals experience the smallest amount of existential dread? Are humans at the top of the evolutionary "pyramid"? Is it possible to make a completely harmless car? Or is it even possible to make a completely harmless anything? What are the differences between "Cowboy Earth" and "Spaceship Earth"?

Thomas Thwaites is an award-winning design researcher and author of two acclaimed books, The Toaster Project, and Goatman. His sometimes eccentric projects explore the psychological and social impacts of technology as we struggle to find a sustainable future. His work is exhibited at museums and galleries worldwide, and is in the permanent collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, The Boijmans Museum in Rotterdam, and the Banque de France. He has a BSc. in Human Sciences from University College London and an MA in Design Interactions from the Royal College of Art. Learn more about him at his website, thomasthwaites.com.

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