The revolution will not be televised…

By Richard Smedley. Posted over 6 years ago.

"BOOM!” says Mark Hatch in his book, The Maker Revolution, “the greatest explosion of innovation and creativity in all human history is upon us.” And it is, as access to tools to make almost anything that can be imagined spreads at prices unimaginably low a few short years ago.

Other writers speak of the coming of AI, and new manufacturing techniques transforming manufacturing in terms of a seismic shift in society, as labour and employment patterns we have lived with since the early days of the industrial revolution disappear. Hatch – who has been a leading figure in the maker movement since setting up TechShop in California a decade ago – looks beyond, to the creativity unleashed with widespread and marginal-cost access to the tools which can make visions into products, or artworks.

Hatch is a lively, informal writer, his discourse littered with explosions of ‘BOOM!’ in the same way he peppers his talks. It makes for a passionate, driven polemic in favour of the potential for makerspaces to transform lives. The Maker Revolution first outlines the trends that are driving the changes: the exponential technology changes that leave us dizzy as we try to keep up with them; the 90%+ fall in the costs of tools in recent years – in laser cutters, CNC machines, 3D printers; and changes to capital, manufacturing, and marketing. All with examples that really highlight that we’re living in a new world, whether we’ve noticed it or not.

In turn, the growth of makerspaces – particularly in the United States, and Hatch’s work is very US-centric – has begun to make major changes in people’s lives. From military veterans to grandmothers and tattooed bikers, Hatch recalls working alongside a wide variety of people on their projects. Through education, enabling innovation, and very real – and startling ($12 billion in estimated shareholder value from TechShop alone) – economic improvements.

The strong and detailed call-to-arms of the last section outlines just what US readers should be doing to spread this revolution. You won’t get this far in the book without it kindling an enthusiasm to do something to help the changes along, wherever you live, and there are plenty of ideas you should be able to enact in your own community. BOOM!