I'm sorry, but where do the people who have time to turn an old mouse into a robot get the money to do things like buy groceries or pay rent? A trust fund, perhaps?

You make it sound like "DIY Tech" is some kind of thing that poor kids get to delve into on the streets--instead of finding a warm place to sleep and things (other than techie junk food) to eat.

I work with poor kids and technology is something that they pay for out of their pockets, not a trust. William fucking Gibson doesn't register in the streets.

DIY my ass.

I'm sorry, but where do the people who have time to turn an old mouse into a robot get the money to do things like buy groceries or pay rent

Lots of frigging people, such as the ones listed in the article. Its a hobby people do in their spare time, it doesn't require huge funding. Jeeze, not everyone lives on the streets, Lighten up.

I wonder what the point of such stories as this one really is? There is no informative content in the blurbs: just tired cliches about robots and DNA and suchlike.

Not one single person on the planet earth depends on Salon for their technology news... well, if anybody does actually depend on Salon for their technology news, then they are in a sad situation. Everything in this story has been discussed in other publications for years so I can't really see what so "hot" about these frontiers.

But there is actually something very sinister about all of this. Why? Well... it takes a certain perspective on technology that is wrong wrong wrong wrong.

Do you know what kind of technology would impress me David? How about this: a fair distribution of the world resources so that every child on the planet had access to CLEAN DRINKING WATER. Do you know that most people do not have access to clean drinking water? Or how about this for a technology proposal: every child on earth should have access to a decent educational system!

What I mean to say is that there are forms of technology that are useful to the majority of people on earth TODAY that we have not even begun to explore because the Defense Department would rather invest decades of time and billions of dollars researching nanorobots. Why? Two reasons: first, nanorobots are likely going to be very useful as weapons and second, because of a Fascist fixation with "technology" where what one means by "technology" is useless gadgets you can either sell to people or else use to kill the people who aren't buying what you are selling.

Do you know how many people die everyday from malnutrition and water borne diseases on this planet?

I think people in the future will look back on our times and be horrified by what our priorities were. It's disgusting.

The one thing I did like about the list David gives is the concept of DIY science. I think that a billion little kids in the slums of Mexico City, Jakarta, Dehli, etc. etc. all of whom know how to build a nuclear bomb from objects readily available at the local trash dump will really be able to finally change this stinking cesspool of a world via revolution.

VIVA ZAPATA!