Читать книгу Designing Agentive Technology - Christopher Noessel - Страница 14

The first and most obvious work that tools can do is to simplify and abstract the physical work involved in a task.

Early tools, like the handheld fan, are tools that simply shape the physical forces that the user is applying to them. The fan spreads out force over a plane, moving air more effectively than we could with our hand alone. These kinds of tools help save us work by letting us use materials and forms better suited to the task than our body parts. A fan is much better at moving air than our outspread hand is. Most technologies start their lives as these manual tools.

Tools can begin to take on the physical effort for us as well, by harnessing forces other than human muscles. Mills let us harness wind- and waterpower. Yokes let us harness animal power. The damper-flapper mechanism that Albert Butz invented saved us from having to get up and cross the room to open a furnace door, by harnessing electricity. These powered tools turn us from laborers to task-managers, steering and guiding the forces to do useful work.