[1]Skip to content
[2] Cal Newport
Menu
[4] Cal Newport
Menu

  • [6]Home
  • [7]Scholarship
  • [8]Writing
  • [9]Essays
  • [10]Press
  • [11]Contact

[12]Home » [13]Blog » On Tools and the Aesthetics of Work

On Tools and the Aesthetics of Work

September 4, 2023
[mythic-640px]

In the summer of 2022, an engineer named Keegan McNamara, who was at the time
working for a fundraising technology startup, found his way to the [14]Arms and
Armor exhibit at the Met. He was struck by the unapologetic mixture of extreme
beauty and focused function captured in the antique firearms on display. As
reported in [15]a recent profile of McNamara published in The Verge, this
encounter with the past sparked a realization about the present:

    “That combination of craftsmanship and utility, objects that are both
    thoroughly practical and needlessly outrageously beautiful, doesn’t really
    exist anymore. ‘And it especially doesn’t exist for computers.'”

Aesthetically, contemporary digitals devices have become industrial and
impersonal: grey and black rectangles carved into generically-modern clean
lines . Functionally, they offer the hapless user a cluttered explosion of
potential activity, windows piling on top of windows, command bars thick with
applications. Standing in the Arms and Armor exhibit McNamara began to wonder
if there was a way to rethink the PC; to save it from a predictable maximalism.

The result was [16]The Mythic I, a custom computer that McNamara handcrafted
over the year or so that followed that momentous afternoon at the Met. The
machine is housed in a swooping hardwood frame carved using manual tools. An
eight-inch screen is mounted above a 1980’s IBM-style keyboard with big
clacking keys that McNamara carefully lubricated to achieve exactly the right
sound on each strike: “if you have dry rubbing of plastic, it doesn’t sound
thock-y. It just sounds cheap.” Below the keyboard is an Italian leather hand
rest. To turn it on you insert and turn a key and then flip a toggle switch.

Equally notable is what happens once the machine is activated. McNamara
designed the Mythic for three specific purposes: writing a novel, writing
occasional computer code, and writing his daily journal. Accordingly, it runs a
highly-modular version of Linux called NixOS that he’s customized to only offer
emacs, a text-based editor popular among hacker types, that’s launched from a
basic green command line. You can’t go online, or create a PowerPoint
presentation, or edit a video. It’s a writing a machine, and like the antique
arms that inspired it, the Mythic implements this functionality with a focused,
beautiful utilitarianism.

In his critical classic, [17]Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman argued
that the form taken by the technologies we use impacts the fundamental nature
of our cognition. When we switched media consumption from long newspaper
articles to television soundbites, for example, our understanding of news lost
its heft and became more superficial and emotionally-charged.

When pondering Keegan McNamara and the Mythic, I can’t help but apply Postman’s
framework to the machines that organize our professional activities. The modern
computer, with its generic styling and overloaded activity, creates a cognitive
environment defined by urgent, bland, Sisyphean widget cranking — work as
endless Slack and email and Zoom and “jumping on” calls, in which there is
always too much to do, but no real sense of much of importance actually being
accomplished.

In Keegan’s construction we find an alternative understanding of work, built
now on beauty, craftsmanship, and focus. Replacing everyone’s MacBook with
custom-carved hardwood, of course, is not enough on its own to transform how we
think about out jobs, [18]as these issues have deeper roots. But the Mythic is
a useful reminder that the rhythms of our professional lives are not
pre-ordained. We craft the world in which we work, even if we don’t realize it.

#####

In other news: My longtime friend Brad Stulberg has a great new book out this
week. It’s called, [19]Master of Change: How to Excel When Everything is
Changing — Including You. In my cover blurb, I noted that this “immensely wise
and timely book provides a roadmap for a tumultuous world.” I really mean it!
The idea of preparing yourself to thrive, and not crumble, when faced with
inevitable change is self-evidently important, and Brad does a great job of
delivering the goods on this timely theme.

Pro-tip: if you do buy the book this week, [20]go to Brad’s website to claim a
bunch of cool pre-order bonuses that he’s offering through the first full week
of publication.

[21]We Don’t Need a New Twitter
[22]On Tire Pressure and Productivity

11 thoughts on “On Tools and the Aesthetics of Work”

 1. [aac40]
    Galia
    [23] September 4, 2023 at 9:27 am

    Too much information when few things matter: that reminds me of the book
    Essentialism. Acting like those everyday stimuli don’t exist is the first
    recipe for success.

    [24]Reply
 2. [8b32b]
    Alexander Lewis
    [25] September 4, 2023 at 11:57 am

    I love the idea here. People still use old typewriters as art pieces and
    coffee table decor in their homes. It’s hard to imagine something similar
    occuring with modern computers. Laptops are used until they’re dead, and
    then they’re recycled or thrown into the junk drawer.

    I think this craftsman/engineer might be onto something.

    [26]Reply
 3. [d7ec0]
    Rafa Font
    [27] September 4, 2023 at 3:22 pm

    They have become Swiss knives, tools for all. Especially mobile phones,
    they’re maps, navigators, radio, compass, torch, voice recorder, word
    processor… all in one.

    I gave my kids a voice recorder the other day. So that they can have a
    one-action device to play with and understand what it is, on its own.

    [28]Reply
      □ [92093]
        Tim Koerner
        [29] September 11, 2023 at 3:27 pm

        Love the voice recorder idea for kids, well done.

        [30]Reply
 4. [2e0eb]
    Alex Francisco
    [31] September 4, 2023 at 8:04 pm

    What a find!

    My copies of ‘Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man’ – McLuhan,
    the Medium is the Massage are always in my mind.

    A good summary is that one line by Culkin in an article about McLuhan:
    “We become what we behold. We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools
    shape us.”

    Timeless, humbling AND empowering at once.

    [32]Reply
      □ [2a88f]
        Jonathan
        [33] November 11, 2023 at 6:47 pm

        That quote it itself based on one by Winston Churchill to the UK
        Parliament in 1943: “We shape our buildings, and afterwards our
        buildings shape us.” Churchill was referring to the reconstruction of
        the bombed House of Commons, emphasizing how the design of buildings
        influences the behavior and culture of the people who use them.

        [34]Reply
 5. [8e65d]
    rb
    [35] September 4, 2023 at 9:47 pm

    WordStar was more fun than WordPerfect, which was quite a bit more fun than
    Microsoft Word. There has not been a professional writing application since
    WordStar and its pale descendants including EMACS. Everybody writes – there
    is opportunity here.

    [36]Reply
 6. [5d6ca]
    Garrett
    [37] September 6, 2023 at 1:46 pm

    In my opinion, another huge value of this is that it has a distinct
    physical location. There’s a lot of power (at least for me) in having a
    physical place to do things. When I’m in my woodshop for instance, I am not
    engaging with distractions. I’m there to create things and I’m limited (or,
    empowered) by the tools around me.

    [38]Reply
 7. [90c00]
    Judy
    [39] September 6, 2023 at 6:23 pm

    As someone who formerly worked in IT but transitioned to become a classical
    fine art painter, I love the concept of objects that are both utilitarian
    and beautiful. Many craftspeople of the past took great pride in creating
    all manner of objects that were more than simply useful, as Keegan McNamara
    discovered. Owners of these well-crafted objects also loved them for their
    beauty. Beauty is important in life.

    [40]Reply
 8. [50214]
    Kenneth Lawson
    [41] September 11, 2023 at 11:43 am

    This goes back to the idea of writing things in a book, on real paper.

    Paper and pen are used for one thing.
    Creation.
    When writing with a pen on paper, there is no distraction, only you, Your
    mind, and the physical act of putting words on paper.

    Thats not to say that paper and pen can’t be works of art in themselves.
    They definitely can.
    Good quality paper in a nice notebook will always be more enjoyable to use
    than cheap printer paper.

    The same with pens.
    Would you rather write the same note on printer paper with a Bic Ballpoint
    pen, or in a nice notebook on quality paper, with a nice fountain pen, that
    writes better and has more character than any pen could ever have?

    The note written on good paper with a fountain pen becomes a work of art in
    itself.
    And going back to read it later is more enjoyable.
    ‘

    [42]Reply
 9. [97f77]
    Kenwood
    [43] September 22, 2023 at 11:32 am

    Nice. Your essay emphasizes the profound influence of tool aesthetics on
    our work and cognition. The Mythic I, handcrafted by Keegan McNamara,
    epitomizes the fusion of craftsmanship and practicality, offering a stark
    contrast to today’s industrial and impersonal digital devices. McNamara’s
    computer is designed for specific tasks like writing, coding, and
    journaling, redirecting our focus from multitasking chaos to singular
    productivity. It reminds us that we shape our work environment and
    challenges conventional notions of productivity. I would like to share [44]
    https://writinguniverse.com/essay-writing-service/ free tools for writers.
    While we can’t all have custom-made computers, McNamara’s creation
    encourages us to rethink the balance between aesthetics and function in our
    daily tools.

    [45]Reply

Leave a Comment [46]Cancel reply

       [                                             ]                       
       [                                             ]                       
       [                                             ]                       
       [                                             ]                       
       [                                             ]                       
       [                                             ]                       
       [                                             ]                       
Comment[                                             ] [                    ]

Name[49][                              ] Email
[50][                              ] [51][                              ]

[52][ ] Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I
comment.

[53][Post Comment] 

Cal Newport headshot

About

Cal launched the "Study Hacks" blog at calnewport.com in 2007, and has been
regularly publishing essays here ever since. Over 2,000,000 people a year visit
this site to read Cal's weekly posts about technology, productivity, and the
quest to live and work deeply in an increasingly distracted world, while tens
of thousands more subscribe to have these essays delivered directly to their
inbox (see the sign-up form below). [57]To read more, you can browse more than
15 years of past essays in the archive.
In the fall of 2022, Cal launched a new portal, [58]TheDeepLife.com, to serve
as the online home for all other content relevant to the deep life movement he
helped initiate. Here you can find all past episodes of Cal's popular podcast, 
Deep Questions, and explore an extensive library of original videos.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Cal Newport logo

This site is the online home for the computer science professor and bestselling
author Cal Newport. Here you can learn more about Cal and both his
general-audience and academic writing. You can also browse and subscribe to his
long-running weekly essay series. For more on Cal's podcast, videos, and online
courses, please visit his media portal, [59]TheDeepLife.com

Contact Info

Academic Communication
[60][email protected]

Media Inquires
[61][email protected]

All Other Requests
[62]See Contact Page

Quick Links

  • [63]Scholarship
  • [64]Writing
  • [65]Essays
  • [66]Press
  • [67]Contact
  • [68]Media Kit
  • [69]Podcast/Videos

  • [70]Privacy Policies
  • [71]Cookie Policy
  • [72]Terms of Service
  • [73]Accessibility Statement

Copyright © 2024 Cal Newport, All rights reserved.
[74] Cleantalk Pixel 

References:

[1] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#content
[2] https://calnewport.com/
[4] https://calnewport.com/
[6] https://calnewport.com/
[7] https://calnewport.com/scholarship/
[8] https://calnewport.com/writing/
[9] https://calnewport.com/blog/
[10] https://calnewport.com/press/
[11] https://calnewport.com/contact/
[12] https://calnewport.com/
[13] https://calnewport.com/blog/
[14] https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/collection-areas/arms-and-armor
[15] https://www.theverge.com/23841276/mythic-computer-keegan-mcnamara-pc-builder
[16] https://www.mythic.computer/
[17] https://www.amazon.com/Amusing-Ourselves-Death-Discourse-Business/dp/014303653X/
[18] https://www.amazon.com/World-Without-Email-Reimagining-Communication/dp/0525536558/
[19] https://www.amazon.com/Master-Change-Everything-Changing-Including/dp/006325316X
[20] https://www.bradstulberg.com/
[21] https://calnewport.com/we-dont-need-a-new-twitter/
[22] https://calnewport.com/on-tire-pressure-and-productivity/
[23] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#comment-75274
[24] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#comment-75274
[25] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#comment-75292
[26] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#comment-75292
[27] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#comment-75309
[28] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#comment-75309
[29] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#comment-76565
[30] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#comment-76565
[31] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#comment-75349
[32] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#comment-75349
[33] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#comment-83574
[34] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#comment-83574
[35] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#comment-75355
[36] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#comment-75355
[37] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#comment-75579
[38] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#comment-75579
[39] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#comment-75642
[40] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#comment-75642
[41] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#comment-76535
[42] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#comment-76535
[43] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#comment-78315
[44] https://writinguniverse.com/essay-writing-service/
[45] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#comment-78315
[46] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#respond
[57] https://calnewport.com/archive/
[58] https://www.thedeeplife.com/
[59] https://www.thedeeplife.com/
[60] https://calnewport.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#34575a06000c7453515b465351405b435a1a515041
[61] https://calnewport.com/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#b8dbd9d4d6ddcfc8d7caccf8c8ddd6dfcdd1d6cad9d6dcd7d5d0d7cdcbdd96dbd7d5
[62] https://calnewport.com/contact/
[63] https://calnewport.com/scholarship/
[64] https://calnewport.com/writing/
[65] https://calnewport.com/blog/
[66] https://calnewport.com/press/
[67] https://calnewport.com/contact/
[68] https://calnewport.com/media-kit/
[69] https://calnewport.com/podcasts/
[70] https://calnewport.com/privacy-policies/
[71] https://calnewport.com/cookie-policy/
[72] https://calnewport.com/terms-of-service/
[73] https://calnewport.com/accessibility-statement/
[74] https://calnewport.com/on-tools-and-the-aesthetics-of-work/#
