The Brittle Spear Series

The Brittle Spear, a Manifesto: We Will 3D Print All of the Things that Matter

Recently, I was rather shocked to discover that some people outside our market still think of 3D printing as a toy technology for making Yoda heads. One individual reminded me…

The Brittle Spear IV: Incentives

Publicly traded companies have a fiduciary responsibility to do what is best for their shareholders. It is all well and good that management should be beholden to the beneficial owners…

The Brittle Spear VII: New Business Models

Green begets green. If we want to save the planet, then we should make it profitable to do so. That sadly is the only real path to implementing genuinely global…

The Brittle Spear VI: Built to Last

Of course, our utopian vision of making our readymades or using digital kintsugi is a beautiful idea. If we then created a commercial aftermarket to extend the life of and…

The Brittle Spear Part V: Mine Your Den for Aftermarket 3D Printing

There is a thriving aftermarket in automobiles, including spoilers for cars, new Dubs, and, more obviously, mufflers. Air intakes that don’t take in air and optimization kits for engines are…

The Brittle Spear Part IV: Reenter the Readymade via 3D Printing

Just to be perfectly clear: from a pure art perspective, I think readymades were a horrible mistake, a distraction, a wrong turn. Duchamp’s Fountain was not one to throw coins…

The Brittle Spear Part III: Digital Kintsugi and 3D Printed Spare Parts

In this series, previously we looked at how we’re creating a system designed to spit out less able things and that these things may be better but will be less…

The Brittle Spear Part II: The Pointy End of the Stick

Roman spears were often brittle by design (perhaps). Sharp, tough spears were useful, but had the disadvantage that the weapon you threw at the enemy could be picked up and…

The Brittle Spear, Part I: A Disposable World

As the tip of a spear grows ever sharper, it also becomes more brittle.  Much has been said about planned obsolescence where companies engineer products to fail earlier than they…