I recently visited an exhibition of art and objects from the Jugendstil movement of the late 19th/early 20th century. Every piece was exquisite: purposeful, expressive, sinuously beautiful.

“everything touches everything.” - Jorge Luis Borges

Tools, Tasks, and Collaboration #

image from Vincent Mourre / Inrap

I’ve noticed something about working in groups: The more discrete the task and the fewer people you have to collaborate with, and the better and broader your selection of potential tools.

All Models Are Wrong #

“All models are wrong, but some are useful” - George Box

Lab hands #

As you spend time working at a laboratory bench, you develop a second sense — we called it lab hands— for the way your body interfaces with and manipulates your equipment. So far, so ordinary: this is a specialized form of the proprioception shared with athletes, dancers, and anyone else who develops expertise in a particular repertoire of movements.

But the most interesting implication of lab hands is not about what the hands are doing.