Human Power

Ivan Illich notes that "personal energy under personal control " is "the one resource that is almost equally distributed among all people."

Here's an interview with Myriel Milicevic, the head of workshop that explores the potential of using the human body itself as a renewable power source. Some interesting ideas from the article:

+ It's not part of our logic anymore to power our own stuff ; sweating for making things work always had a rather undistinguished connotation
+ At the same time, there are those comforting imaginations about being completely self-sustaining, such as in case of disasters
+ And, human powered energy doesn't necessarily mean lifestyle changes (e.g. computer mouses powered by moving them around, floor panels that capture energy produced by walking)
+ Human powered objects themselves have a fascinating simplicity, it is easy to understand how to use them, which is a quality that often is lost in contemporary high-tech devices.

Is human-power a step backwards into the olden days?

On one hand, we can "passively" harness human energy, allowing to still be lazy and have things work for us. This can be viewed as a means to sustain a lifestyle which involves machines doing work for humans (consuming lots of energy in the process). This would include things like a watch that winds itself by harnessing the movements of our arm that we are going to do anyway.

On the other hand, we can actively engage human power as an end in itself.

Using Human-Powered Things: There is something desirable about self-sustaining artifacts, about intimately engaging with our things. We go to the gym or the park and exert ourselves physically, yet we drive 2 blocks to mail a letter. Surely, there many opportunities to merge human power as both a means and an end.

Designing Human-Powered Things: Myriel Milicevic, who headed the workshop, reminds us that "People can come up with very powerful and creative solutions even with very limited resources." In fact, people come up with very powerful and creative solutions because of limited resources; resources like personal energy under personal control, one of the few resources that is almost equally distributed among all people. I think they is great potential in a renewed enjoyment, as well as equity and sustainability, in designing personal things that we work with rather than things that simply work for us. Engaging human-power is, I think, an important aspect of engaging with our things as both means and ends.

I wonder also to what extent the pleasures and enjoyment of actively engaging human-power are dependent on it being a voluntary choice, an alternative choice to relying on machines and exterior energy sources. Do we need to have things available that work for us, so that can enjoy it when we instead choose to work with things?