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1 [1]Skip to content 2 [2] Cal Newport 3 Menu 4 [4] Cal Newport 5 Menu 6 7 • [6]Home 8 • [7]Scholarship 9 • [8]Writing 10 • [9]Essays 11 • [10]Press 12 • [11]Contact 13 14 [12]Home » [13]Blog » On Tools and the Aesthetics of Work 15 16 On Tools and the Aesthetics of Work 17 18 September 4, 2023 19 [mythic-640px] 20 21 In the summer of 2022, an engineer named Keegan McNamara, who was at the time 22 working for a fundraising technology startup, found his way to the [14]Arms and 23 Armor exhibit at the Met. He was struck by the unapologetic mixture of extreme 24 beauty and focused function captured in the antique firearms on display. As 25 reported in [15]a recent profile of McNamara published in The Verge, this 26 encounter with the past sparked a realization about the present: 27 28 “That combination of craftsmanship and utility, objects that are both 29 thoroughly practical and needlessly outrageously beautiful, doesn’t really 30 exist anymore. ‘And it especially doesn’t exist for computers.'” 31 32 Aesthetically, contemporary digitals devices have become industrial and 33 impersonal: grey and black rectangles carved into generically-modern clean 34 lines . Functionally, they offer the hapless user a cluttered explosion of 35 potential activity, windows piling on top of windows, command bars thick with 36 applications. Standing in the Arms and Armor exhibit McNamara began to wonder 37 if there was a way to rethink the PC; to save it from a predictable maximalism. 38 39 The result was [16]The Mythic I, a custom computer that McNamara handcrafted 40 over the year or so that followed that momentous afternoon at the Met. The 41 machine is housed in a swooping hardwood frame carved using manual tools. An 42 eight-inch screen is mounted above a 1980’s IBM-style keyboard with big 43 clacking keys that McNamara carefully lubricated to achieve exactly the right 44 sound on each strike: “if you have dry rubbing of plastic, it doesn’t sound 45 thock-y. It just sounds cheap.” Below the keyboard is an Italian leather hand 46 rest. To turn it on you insert and turn a key and then flip a toggle switch. 47 48 Equally notable is what happens once the machine is activated. McNamara 49 designed the Mythic for three specific purposes: writing a novel, writing 50 occasional computer code, and writing his daily journal. Accordingly, it runs a 51 highly-modular version of Linux called NixOS that he’s customized to only offer 52 emacs, a text-based editor popular among hacker types, that’s launched from a 53 basic green command line. You can’t go online, or create a PowerPoint 54 presentation, or edit a video. It’s a writing a machine, and like the antique 55 arms that inspired it, the Mythic implements this functionality with a focused, 56 beautiful utilitarianism. 57 58 In his critical classic, [17]Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman argued 59 that the form taken by the technologies we use impacts the fundamental nature 60 of our cognition. When we switched media consumption from long newspaper 61 articles to television soundbites, for example, our understanding of news lost 62 its heft and became more superficial and emotionally-charged. 63 64 When pondering Keegan McNamara and the Mythic, I can’t help but apply Postman’s 65 framework to the machines that organize our professional activities. The modern 66 computer, with its generic styling and overloaded activity, creates a cognitive 67 environment defined by urgent, bland, Sisyphean widget cranking — work as 68 endless Slack and email and Zoom and “jumping on” calls, in which there is 69 always too much to do, but no real sense of much of importance actually being 70 accomplished. 71 72 In Keegan’s construction we find an alternative understanding of work, built 73 now on beauty, craftsmanship, and focus. Replacing everyone’s MacBook with 74 custom-carved hardwood, of course, is not enough on its own to transform how we 75 think about out jobs, [18]as these issues have deeper roots. But the Mythic is 76 a useful reminder that the rhythms of our professional lives are not 77 pre-ordained. We craft the world in which we work, even if we don’t realize it. 78 79 ##### 80 81 In other news: My longtime friend Brad Stulberg has a great new book out this 82 week. It’s called, [19]Master of Change: How to Excel When Everything is 83 Changing — Including You. In my cover blurb, I noted that this “immensely wise 84 and timely book provides a roadmap for a tumultuous world.” I really mean it! 85 The idea of preparing yourself to thrive, and not crumble, when faced with 86 inevitable change is self-evidently important, and Brad does a great job of 87 delivering the goods on this timely theme. 88 89 Pro-tip: if you do buy the book this week, [20]go to Brad’s website to claim a 90 bunch of cool pre-order bonuses that he’s offering through the first full week 91 of publication. 92 93 [21]We Don’t Need a New Twitter 94 [22]On Tire Pressure and Productivity 95 96 11 thoughts on “On Tools and the Aesthetics of Work” 97 98 1. [aac40] 99 Galia 100 [23] September 4, 2023 at 9:27 am 101 102 Too much information when few things matter: that reminds me of the book 103 Essentialism. Acting like those everyday stimuli don’t exist is the first 104 recipe for success. 105 106 [24]Reply 107 2. [8b32b] 108 Alexander Lewis 109 [25] September 4, 2023 at 11:57 am 110 111 I love the idea here. People still use old typewriters as art pieces and 112 coffee table decor in their homes. It’s hard to imagine something similar 113 occuring with modern computers. Laptops are used until they’re dead, and 114 then they’re recycled or thrown into the junk drawer. 115 116 I think this craftsman/engineer might be onto something. 117 118 [26]Reply 119 3. [d7ec0] 120 Rafa Font 121 [27] September 4, 2023 at 3:22 pm 122 123 They have become Swiss knives, tools for all. Especially mobile phones, 124 they’re maps, navigators, radio, compass, torch, voice recorder, word 125 processor… all in one. 126 127 I gave my kids a voice recorder the other day. So that they can have a 128 one-action device to play with and understand what it is, on its own. 129 130 [28]Reply 131 □ [92093] 132 Tim Koerner 133 [29] September 11, 2023 at 3:27 pm 134 135 Love the voice recorder idea for kids, well done. 136 137 [30]Reply 138 4. [2e0eb] 139 Alex Francisco 140 [31] September 4, 2023 at 8:04 pm 141 142 What a find! 143 144 My copies of ‘Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man’ – McLuhan, 145 the Medium is the Massage are always in my mind. 146 147 A good summary is that one line by Culkin in an article about McLuhan: 148 “We become what we behold. We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools 149 shape us.” 150 151 Timeless, humbling AND empowering at once. 152 153 [32]Reply 154 □ [2a88f] 155 Jonathan 156 [33] November 11, 2023 at 6:47 pm 157 158 That quote it itself based on one by Winston Churchill to the UK 159 Parliament in 1943: “We shape our buildings, and afterwards our 160 buildings shape us.” Churchill was referring to the reconstruction of 161 the bombed House of Commons, emphasizing how the design of buildings 162 influences the behavior and culture of the people who use them. 163 164 [34]Reply 165 5. [8e65d] 166 rb 167 [35] September 4, 2023 at 9:47 pm 168 169 WordStar was more fun than WordPerfect, which was quite a bit more fun than 170 Microsoft Word. There has not been a professional writing application since 171 WordStar and its pale descendants including EMACS. Everybody writes – there 172 is opportunity here. 173 174 [36]Reply 175 6. [5d6ca] 176 Garrett 177 [37] September 6, 2023 at 1:46 pm 178 179 In my opinion, another huge value of this is that it has a distinct 180 physical location. There’s a lot of power (at least for me) in having a 181 physical place to do things. When I’m in my woodshop for instance, I am not 182 engaging with distractions. I’m there to create things and I’m limited (or, 183 empowered) by the tools around me. 184 185 [38]Reply 186 7. [90c00] 187 Judy 188 [39] September 6, 2023 at 6:23 pm 189 190 As someone who formerly worked in IT but transitioned to become a classical 191 fine art painter, I love the concept of objects that are both utilitarian 192 and beautiful. Many craftspeople of the past took great pride in creating 193 all manner of objects that were more than simply useful, as Keegan McNamara 194 discovered. Owners of these well-crafted objects also loved them for their 195 beauty. Beauty is important in life. 196 197 [40]Reply 198 8. [50214] 199 Kenneth Lawson 200 [41] September 11, 2023 at 11:43 am 201 202 This goes back to the idea of writing things in a book, on real paper. 203 204 Paper and pen are used for one thing. 205 Creation. 206 When writing with a pen on paper, there is no distraction, only you, Your 207 mind, and the physical act of putting words on paper. 208 209 Thats not to say that paper and pen can’t be works of art in themselves. 210 They definitely can. 211 Good quality paper in a nice notebook will always be more enjoyable to use 212 than cheap printer paper. 213 214 The same with pens. 215 Would you rather write the same note on printer paper with a Bic Ballpoint 216 pen, or in a nice notebook on quality paper, with a nice fountain pen, that 217 writes better and has more character than any pen could ever have? 218 219 The note written on good paper with a fountain pen becomes a work of art in 220 itself. 221 And going back to read it later is more enjoyable. 222 ‘ 223 224 [42]Reply 225 9. [97f77] 226 Kenwood 227 [43] September 22, 2023 at 11:32 am 228 229 Nice. Your essay emphasizes the profound influence of tool aesthetics on 230 our work and cognition. The Mythic I, handcrafted by Keegan McNamara, 231 epitomizes the fusion of craftsmanship and practicality, offering a stark 232 contrast to today’s industrial and impersonal digital devices. McNamara’s 233 computer is designed for specific tasks like writing, coding, and 234 journaling, redirecting our focus from multitasking chaos to singular 235 productivity. It reminds us that we shape our work environment and 236 challenges conventional notions of productivity. I would like to share [44] 237 https://writinguniverse.com/essay-writing-service/ free tools for writers. 238 While we can’t all have custom-made computers, McNamara’s creation 239 encourages us to rethink the balance between aesthetics and function in our 240 daily tools. 241 242 [45]Reply 243 244 Leave a Comment [46]Cancel reply 245 246 [ ] 247 [ ] 248 [ ] 249 [ ] 250 [ ] 251 [ ] 252 [ ] 253 Comment[ ] [ ] 254 255 Name[49][ ] Email 256 [50][ ] [51][ ] 257 258 [52][ ] Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I 259 comment. 260 261 [53][Post Comment] 262 263 Cal Newport headshot 264 265 About 266 267 Cal launched the "Study Hacks" blog at calnewport.com in 2007, and has been 268 regularly publishing essays here ever since. 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