Parts, knowledge and skill to keep us going

I have read or listened to several books by Steven Johnson.  His books on neuroscience and systems theory and the one on video games are all good reads and informative.  "The Invention of Air" was especially good.  The title refers to the actual time in the history of our planet that the atmosphere formed.  

Lately, I have been listening to Johnson's "Where Good Ideas Come From".  I would not normally be attracted to what sounds like a rambling review of inventive insights.  However, Johnson's examples and discussion of them are definitely worth hearing about.  

There is no question that computers and related machines and devices can do important work for us.  So, schools, nursing homes and other places want some of them.  A rich man or organization donates some and they are installed.  It takes a while for people to learn to use them, regardless of the age of the people.  An old and sad twist to the story is that things ended with just that exciting installation. There was no budget or plan for instruction in how to use the machines or the equally important matter of maintenance of them.  

Maintenance requires knowledge, skill and parts.  In this country, we are fairly good at providing all three, eventually.  However, as Johnson points out, in many parts of the world, such provision is much slower or completely absent.  With his first trip into the world of good ideas, Johnson takes up incubators for human babies.  Since something like 1870, Western hospitals have used incubators to lower infant mortality.  However, not so much in the poorer nations.

An important insight was this support problem: no parts, no repair expertise.  Even the repair manual is written in English, not the native language of many of the poorer nations who still have high infant mortality, which was lowered by Western nations in part with incubators.  One observer noted cars seemed to be something that many countries are able to maintain.  They tend to get auto parts and know how to keep the cars running.  So, design an incubator using auto parts.

It is cheaper, repairable, uses parts that are available and reliable.  A good idea!