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Comment by 1_listerine_pls | Hacker News Reader

Now we need a massive governmental program to encourage children to become scientific glass blowers and promote tons of glass blowing courses on Udacity.

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I suspect that when basic income is implemented and people largely don't have vocational fufillment, many people will make functional artisitc works by learning about glass blowing on coursera and other places and mastering such a craft for its own sake.

edit: changed is => when

I have no reason why you are being downvoted; you're making a valid point. One of the reasons I strive to become financially independent of any one company is exactly so I have the freedom to do things like this.

Thanks. I consider myself a capitalist. I have heard SA say[0]; and find myself to agree with how I perceived those remarks, that capitalism is the best paradigm we have to structure the world out of the current choices of organization. That said, there are inherent problems with markets and we can correct for some of those externalities with other things (many outside the scope of this response) but one of which is to equalize for health, food and shelter with a basic income.

As indicated in a recent post on HN there is already a company working on creating an autonomous pizza truck that will prepare hot food in route to a location serving it hot at arrival. Coupled with autonomous vehicle technology, we will soon see the evaportion of labor jobs MUCH quicker than many expect. As we use our resources better, I find that elevating the bottom is important, while still allowing for capitalism and free markets to keep the top uncapped.

Artistic pursuits; as well as things machines can certainly do as well or better than humans, is not only anthropologically important but certainly skills we would want to retain if there were ever to be a failure of mechanization.

[0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuijDaj8DvA

I do look like a decent hobby and craft. Probably on par with knifemaking.

given that they have to craft a design for an apparatus based in part on a knowledge of chemistry so they understand the experiment, thermodynamics, as well as material science, etc, I wouldn't be surprised if it's more complex then knifemaking.

> part on a knowledge of chemistry so they understand the experiment, thermodynamics, as well as material science, etc,

By coincidence proper heat treatment requires all of those too :) Depending on how deep you want to plunge.

The difference is that a knife isn't likely to explode, sending hot, toxic gases and acids all over the laboratory.

Not to belabor the point, but Knifemaking _can_ involve exposure to high temperature molten salt baths (Sodium and Nitrate salts), liquid nitrogen, precise timing, temperature control, and varieties of chemical etchants.

It seems that they probably have similar risks, though glassblowing for the lab might require a broader domain knowledge.

You're talking about knife-making, I'm talking about knife-using. While it may be the case that a knife-maker works with high temperatures and toxic substances, it is not the case for a knife-user. Users of laboratory glassware, on the other hand, are constantly risking exposure to this stuff. They depend on high quality glassware to keep them safe.

The consequences for using a poorly-made Erlenmeyer flask are potentially devastating on a far larger scale than for a poorly-made knife.

Naw, its not really a hobby level thing. It is relatively straightforward to take a glassblowing class and make some hobby level glassware... This is a much different level of commitment and skill.

Trump is going to build a dome!

As weed becomes legal in more and more places it could also be a lucrative profession...

that's lampwork, which is a bit different.

on the contrary more and more usable glass art is being blown in mexico or southeast asia, due to cheaper labor, lax oversight and economics.

the equipment is not expensive enough to prevent most apprentices in US/EU/CA to just go out on their own after a while. where as in lower income countries the apprentice is easier to keep for a much longer timeline.

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