Technical Craft Research Articles

Laundering Militarization: Preparedness, Professionalism, and Police Common Sense

Abstract: US police militarization is commonly understood as military violence abroad flowing to domestic policing, where it does not belong. Despite years of reform efforts, attempts to demilitarize local police have thus far failed to effect substantive change. This essay builds on the history of US policing, as well as sixteen months of ethnographic research with police in Maryland, to suggest that the ideological labor of policing contributes to these failures. Specifically, I examine two elements of what I call police common sense : preparedness as moral practice and violence as professional technique. In so doing, I demonstrate how policing metabolizes militarization as an apolitical technical craft that counterintuitively reduces violence, and that allows officers to fulfill their primary ethical role as stewards of public crises. Demilitarization reforms function in tandem with the political work of preparedness and professionalism to consecrate “good” militarization as commonsensical and legitimate. These reforms thus inadvertently lend power to the notion of police as the “thin blue line” between extreme violence and innocent (white) society.

Non-linear maker pedagogy in Finnish craft education

This research explores the use of a non-linear maker pedagogy for implementing a major change in the Finnish national core curriculum. The latest curriculum change (2014) introduced so-called transversal competences, but also a major change for the subject of crafts: ‘multi-material’ crafts that involve former separately taught textile and technical crafts both now introduced to all pupils. These changes set the stage for in-service teacher training, as well as for pedagogical solutions, such as a non-linear maker pedagogy and closer collaboration between technical and textile craft teachers. A non-linear maker pedagogy refers to an approach combining several features: a shift from individual learning and solo teaching to collaborative knowledge-creating learning, opportunities for collective invention and improvisation, pupil-centred situated inquiry and the creation of artefacts that combine material and digital realms. In this collective case study, we interviewed six teachers who co-taught non-linear maker projects in six different schools. Through a qualitative content analysis, we identified successes and challenges regarding the use of a non-linear maker pedagogy, pupil collaboration and teaching digital skills through robotics and e-textiles. In the interviews, teachers reflected on their work mainly by describing their pupils’ accomplishments, reactions and learning. These reflections indicated similar challenges and successes, suggesting that the variation between pupils and pupil groups was larger than that between schools. Furthermore, we discuss whether the selected pedagogical approach was unduly ambitious. Despite all the challenges, most of the teachers expressed their commitment to developing their teaching practices along the lines of a non-linear maker pedagogy.Keywords: Co-teaching, Curriculum change, Digital skills, Non-linear maker pedagogy, Pupil-directed situated inquiry

Instalațiile tehnice populare și meșteșugurile din zona Valea Gurghiului (județul Mureș

"Peasant technical installations and crafts from the area of the Gurghiu Valley (Mures County) On the Gurghiu Valley are spread settlements, some of which are first mentioned in an official document from newer or ancient times. Those at the lower valley are clustered settlements, and those upper rivers are scattered, generally found in upland regions: Bicașu, Toaca, Dubiștes, Isticelul, Arșicea, Uricea, Tireul, Ibănești - Pădure, Blidireasa, Zimți, Piriul - Mare, Dulcea, Bradețel. Eleven settlements developed on this valley: Solovăstru (1853), Jabenița (1453), Adrian (1393), Gurghiu (1248), Orșova (1453), Cașva (1453), Glăjarie (1760), Hodac (1453), Toaca, Ibănești - Sat (1453), Ibănești - Pădure. History of villages from the Gurghiu Valley was related to the fortress and Gurghiu domain for many centuries. In August 1329, a document mentioned Petru Georgyu. However, the fortress was only firstly documented in 1364, on the appointment of Dionisie as voivode of Transylvania. Now, besides the castellans of fortresses from Deva, Hunedoara and Ciceu, also appears Iohannis Lepesde Gurghen as castellan of Gurghiu fortress. Development of the economic life and ever increasing requirements of the population led to improvement and development of peasant technical installations (mills, oil mills, traditional rural whirlpools, sawmills) but also crafts and trades (carpentry, flute making, wheel righting, blacksmithing, pottery). Manufactory plants were set up, beginning with the 17th century; these were the first form of industrialisation, based on work division and manual techniques, a preliminary stage of transition from small-scale commodity production to large-scale machine production. Keywords: Gurghiu Valley, peasant technical installations, mill, crafts, wood processing "

Friedrich August Nauck (1855–1913) – Graduate of Riga Polytechnicum, Initiator of Control-Ticket Printing in Riga

A graduate of Riga Polytechnicum (RP) (1878), Friedrich August Nauck (1855–1913) was a son of the first director of RP, Ernst Nauck (1819– 1875), an engineer, the initiator of public transport and various entrance control-ticket printing in Riga. The aim of the research is to reflect the activities of F. A. Nauck’s Printing House and the beginnings of control-ticket printing, identifying control-tickets that have survived to the present day in various archives and museum collections. The Printing House established by F. A. Nauck in 1888, in Riga, operated until 1939. The engineer invented various devices for a successful operation of the Printing House. F. A. Nauck was an active member of Riga Technical and Riga Craft Society, he presented reports on various topics and was one of the directors of the Riga Horse Railway Society (1885–1889). In the research, great attention is payed to the family of F. A. Nauck and its descendants to the present day.

Bridging the time gap in the Bronze Age of Southeast Asia and Southwest China

Bronze working is a nonnative technical craft which was incorporated relatively late in southern China and Southeast Asia. Debates about the origins of the Bronze Age in these regions hinge on finding the “missing” geographic linkages facilitating the cultural transfer of knowledge during the second millennium BCE. We provide the first series of AMS assays from Bronze Age sites in the Lake Dian basin in Yunnan and definitively connect the timing of tin-bronze metalworking in southwestern China with sites in Northeast Thailand to the 11th to 10th c. BC. Using Bayesian modeling to calibrate dates from stratified deposits, we propose a revised chronology for the Bronze Age and present a division spanning three phases (early, middle, and late). The findings indicate the establishment of settlements beginning in the early 12th c. BC, accompanied by the incorporation of copper-base metallurgy (1100/1000–800 BCE), a middle (800–600 BCE) and late ‘Dian’ period (600–250 BCE) that is identified with the emergence of a bronze drum culture. The revised chronology not only pushes back the timing of copper-base technology in central Yunnan by at least five centuries before the material medium was co-opted by elites as a means of wealth production. Temporal correspondences between the Dian sequence and other prehistoric complexes in the region also strengthen arguments for a potential technological link between Yunnan and Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA) and the transfer of tin-bronze metallurgical knowledge across geographic regions.

KILNS OF THE WESTERN AND EASTERN REGIONS OF THE CHERNYAKHIV CULTURE: NEW MATERIALS TO THE ORGANIZATION OF POTTERY PRODUCTION

The aim of this paper was to compare the pottery kilns of the Chernyakhiv culture in two disparate regions for evaluating the organization in pottery manufacturing based on the kilns, their construction and material. Today 11 sites in the western region and 5 sites in the eastern region are known each with one or several kilns. The kilns can be divided in type 1—6 after Bobrinskiy (or the variant A—C after Henning). On the current state of research type 2 seems to prevail in the western region, type 3 in the eastern region. As an example for new investigations the kilns found in Voitenki (Kharkiv county) are presented in detail.
 Furthermore structures / constructions around the kilns were considered to find evidences for the existence of workshops. In both regions under discussion such remains has been observed rarely (Komariv, Voitenki). Concerning the question, if pottery was produced seasonally or all-the-year, remains of repairs in the kilns were taken into account in both regions (Lepesovka, Voitenki). Another point was the position of the kilns within the settlements. In the western region they were situated at the border of the settlement or even apart them. In the eastern region they were found in several parts of the settlement, in Voitenki in a special part, where evidences of technical works and craft activities are concentrated. After all it seems that in both regions of the Chernyakhiv culture the organization of pottery production worked on a similar economic level, but with local modifications in every settlement.

Championing A Surgical Career: Success in a World of a Thousand Cuts.

Championing A Surgical Career:Success in a World of a Thousand Cuts Nora L. Burgess During my seven years of training in general and cardiothoracic surgery, 1977-1984, women were beginning to graduate from medical school in significant numbers. Few women surgeons had yet to complete training, however, and I knew no role models in practice. My experience in a progressive medical school was that hard work and strong clinical skills speak for themselves, so initially, I was confident I could establish my credibility. My first realization that this premise was naïve came during my 1977–1978 general surgery internship at a large pyramidal university-based training program in south Texas. The program had never graduated a woman, but they did have two women out of about 35 general surgery residents, one in the 2nd year and one in the 4th. My first internship [End Page 186] rotation was months on Urology at an affiliated hospital, effectively rendering me invisible to the general surgery program attending staff. When I tried to address this disadvantage directly by seeking supplemental visible work, I was told there wasn't room, and the system didn't work that way. The deadline came and went for identifying interns who would be promoted to the second year. I had received no feedback on my performance to date, although I had not been invited duck hunting at the Chief of Surgery's hutch, rumored to be a prime endorsement that a resident had a job the next year. So, it seemed natural to me that I speak with the training program director and figure out what was the situation. The first thing he said was that, obviously, having asked to meet with him, I must be aware I was not doing well. He went on, stating I was "not competitive enough" to be a surgeon. With the die cast, almost more furious than disappointed at this teaching vacuum, I was no longer biddable and compliant. I started confronting OR staff directly when I overheard my nickname, "the whore." I stopped accepting extra call nights—an ongoing hazing test to see if I was a "real" team player. I explicitly pressed for my fair share of operative cases and ICU experience. And I found a senior resident willing to teach me, who I still regard with gratitude. My campaign to raise visibility and speak out on my own behalf became crucial to a gradual recovery of my self-esteem and my future surgical education. The internship turned out to be a scam. I was accepted under the ruse of participating in a teaching program solely to meet temporary staffing needs while a male resident was on leave. Perhaps this also contributed to the aloofness of the other 2 women in the program from me, although they carefully kept a distance from each other as well. I later came to see this as a pattern—pioneer women are often wary, and often treated with caution, in turn, creating an isolation that limits mentoring opportunities. For years after, I always sought out this dishonest program director at professional meetings to re-introduce myself and update him as I competed successfully to become a cardiac surgeon. I wanted to remind him that he failed to erode my spirit. The Chief of Surgery at my medical school helped me find a new surgical training program, and in the course of my rotations, I became seriously interested in cardiac surgery. Some troublesome characteristics of this field are that the work is relatively high-risk and, being high-profile, it is often politically complex. In addition, there is the personality profile of many cardiac surgeons themselves. "You're killing my patient!" does not provide a lot of educational insight, and it is hard to learn from surgeons that are both self-absorbed and non-verbal and whose work entails frequent clinical crises. But it is very interesting and very rewarding to be part of a high-performing team. The anatomy is beautiful, the feedback about success or failure immediate, and the decision-making intellectually just as challenging as the technical craft. I applied to a string of cardiothoracic residencies with strong letters from...

Intensive summer course in robotics – Robotcraft

This paper describes a two-month summer intensive course designed to introduce participants with a hands-on technical craft on robotics and to acquire experience in the low-level details of embedded systems. Attendants started this course with a brief introduction to robotics; learned to draw, design and create a personalized 3D structure for their mobile robotic platform and developed skills in embedded systems. They were familiarize with the practices used in robotics, learning to connect all sensors and actuator, developing a typical application on differential kinematic using Arduino, exploring ROS features under Raspberry Pi environment and Arduino – Raspberry Pi communication. Different paradigms and some real applications and programming were addressed on the topic of Artificial Intelligence. Throughout the course, participants were introduced to programming languages (including Python and C++), advanced programming concepts such as ROS, basic API development, system concepts such as I2C and UART serial interfaces, PWM motor control and sensor fusion to improve robotic navigation and localization. This paper describes not just the concept, layout and methodology used on RobotCraft 2017 but also presents the participants knowledge background and their overall opinions, leading to focus on lessons learned and suggestions for future editions.

Technological Knowledge and Reasoning in Finnish and Estonian Technology Education

The main idea of this research was to find out if there is a relationship between students’ undertakings within Craft and Technology education and their ability to understand technological concepts. Study participants’ technological knowledge and reasoning was measured with a questionnaire regarding mechanical systems connected with simple physical phenomena. The research was undertaken in Finnish and Estonian schools during the years 2014-2016. The research model was quantitative survey and the data was collected using a questionnaire distributed to 303 students in Estonia and 317 in Finland. The age of study participants was eleven and thirteen. The results highlighted general lack of technological knowledge and reasoning, which could be due to old-fashioned pedagogical methods in teaching technology. The total average of right answers to 28 questions was in Estonia 15.4 and in Finland 15.0. Main difference was found between Finnish and Estonian 11-year-old students while the Estonian figure was 14.9 and 14.1 in Finland. For 13-year-old students, the difference was almost diminished while the average in Estonia was 15.8 and 15.7 in Finland. This is explained by curriculum differences. In Finnish technology education both Technical craft and Textile craft are compulsory for both boys and girls. In Estonia, students can choose the subject based on their wishes and interests. This allows students to study in greater detail the subject that they are really interested in. In addition, boys’ and girls’ different interests and earlier experiences obviously have an impact on motivation for learning about technology.

In Search of Apprehending Customers’ Value Perception

Abstract The article clarifies the concept of value for customer, demonstrates challenges related to the concept itself and its measurement and sheds new light on the consequences of conceptual and metric choices. The analysis focuses on three points: first, it shows, how the definition and delineation of customer perceived value (CVP) implies the choice of certain measurement tools, but does not necessarily reveal the essence of the measured construct. Second, it provides a quantitative measure of CVP components showing the functional interconnections between them without presenting their causal relations. Third, it suggests the priority of a theoretical conceptualization over any technical craft considerations in CVP measurement. The article begins with mapping and deconstructing the value concept, which is followed by a critical discussion of its measurement challenges. Mixed methodology for empirical exploration of CVP construct is recommended here, being as the approach that blends quantitative methods with a deeper understanding of CVP provided by qualitative tools.

Evolving Beyond Craft Surgery Is Both Inevitable and Essential.

Given the increasing emphasis in health care on improving outcomes, reproducible results, and creating value for the patient, orthopedic surgery in particular must necessarily continue to progress away from an individualized and a surgeon-specific technical craft and toward a highly automated and computer-integrated process in which surgeon and digitized systems interact to provide the most reproducible and consistent outcomes possible. In doing so, orthopedic surgery would follow the same path that every other highly reliable and safety conscious industry has adopted by absolute necessity. This evolution should therefore not be discouraged but rather embraced and accelerated.

Traditional Craft or Technology Education: Development of Students’ Technical Abilities in Finnish Comprehensive School

Changes in the economy, nature, production and society together with increasing scientific and technological knowledge make demands of transforming school teaching in the field of technology education. The aim of the article is briefly to explore the integration between science, technology and traditional craft education by analyzing the current trends in Finnish technology education. Additionally, the research tried to explore, in a preliminary way, whether or not a curriculum which retains the traditional textile and technical crafts, or new technology education, would enhance technical abilities better? The data of the empirical part suggest that there was a difference between students’ who received education based on the traditional craft or technology education curriculum. The difference was mainly seen in technological knowledge and in attitudes towards technology. Hence, still much of the learning is focused on production skills, and approaches that are now dominant in craft education do not prepare students to meet the challenges of modern technology and working life.

從儒家傳統論中醫職業精神的形成機制

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.中國傳統醫師職業精神是中國優秀職業精神的有機組成部分，影響其形成與發展有着多方面因素，尤其是儒家思想。儒家的人本文化特質為醫學、醫療實踐與醫師職業精神營造出濃郁的文化背景；儒家的“不為良相，當為良醫”的價值觀逐步提升了醫學與醫師職業精神的社會地位與價值；儒家的核心價值思想——“仁”深刻揭示了醫師職業精神的內在本質與要求；儒家的責任倫理使醫師在行醫實踐中始終按照社會對醫師職業的整體責任要求、按照為病家謀幸福的個體責任要求規範自己的言行；儒家的“修身”促進了醫師職業精神的養成。所有這些都從不同側面促進了中國傳統醫師職業精神的形成。儒家思想對中國傳統醫師職業精神的形成為當下中國醫師職業精神建設提供了有益的啟示與借鑒。The “Regulations on Medical Ethics for Medical Professionals in the PRC” promulgated by the Chinese Ministry of Health function as contemporary moral rules for medical professionalism. The principles underlying these ethical rules are not that different from those underlying bio-medical ethics in the West, which provides a broad platform for medical ethics and moral codes. However, this paper explores Confucian moral teachings to supplement the current discourse related to professional ethics. The issue up for discussion is how medical professionalism can be reconstructed based on Confucianism. This paper outlines the Confucian ethics that formed the cultural context in which traditional Chinese medical practice is perceived and conducted.According to Confucianism and especially the tradition of ruyi (or literati-physicians), “humanness (ren) is the art of medicine and healing.” Medical practice is considered part of the process of moral self-cultivation. Accordingly, the principles of Confucian ethics in medicine are not confined to regulating the external conduct of the professional agent, but are extended to cultivate the internal disposition of the moral agent, allowing a physician to fully understand the appropriate relationship between the physician and patient. Moral codes and regulations are necessary and essential for sustaining any sound medical practice. However, according to Confucian teachings, it is more important for medical professionalism to involve a mechanism that can transform medical practice from a technical craft into a spiritual pathway.DOWNLOAD HISTORY | This article has been downloaded 591 times in Digital Commons before migrating into this platform.

En keramiktraditions begyndelse – Senmiddelalderens keramikproduktion og sociale forandringer

A new ceramic traditionSocial changes reflected in medieval pottery productionJutland’s locally manufactured grey to black earthenware pots – so-called Jydepotter – constituted widespread consumer goods during the main period of their production from around 1400 to 1900. Within this ceramic tradition, the typical vessel shapes and mode of production remained practically unchanged over a period of 500 years (figs. 1-2). However, it is unclear how the tradition started and, in particular, how this apparently local manufacture could take over from the existing more professional production of hard-fired and often wheel-thrown vessels.The shift in production mode for grey wares has previously been explained in terms of a continuation of the local pit-fired pottery production of the Early Middle Ages. The demonstration, within the last ten years, of the presence of this ware type has underlined the existence of local production on a restricted scale (fig. 5). Together with a large variation in fashioning techniques in hard-fired pottery production (fig. 4), a degree of diversity in the ceramic production of the High Middle Ages seems likely. Consequently, the transition to an early, probably locally-rooted Jydepotte-tradition appears less striking.Rather than being a continuation of a medieval tradition of local pit-fired pottery, the Jydepotte-tradition has repeatedly been described as following on from prehistoric, predominantly Iron Age, pottery production. This comparison indirectly reflects a prevalent conception of the technical aspects of ceramic production as being governed by ecological and functional constraints, leaving little room for cultural or social choices. But the ethnologically well-studied Jydepotte-tradition provides an example where considerable elements of the production process have little significance for either the properties of the vessels or their mode of production. It is thereby an expression of cultural style rather than functional adaptation (fig. 3).In this article, the emergence of the Jydepotte-tradition is viewed in the light of the social and economic changes that took place around 1400. Extensive developments in technical craft traditions and ceramic production modes in Norway and England have been linked with the consequences of the Black Death and subsequent plagues. Changes in the production of both grey wares and of glazed red wares around 1400 in Denmark could have been similarly influenced by these circumstances. It seems likely that the vessels already constituted commercial items in the 16th century and this mode of production could have already existed from the beginning of the tradition. Accordingly, the early Jydepotte-tradition can be seen as a local attempt to meet the demand for cheap household vessels, constituting a competitive alternative to a declining professional production as a consequence of the Black Death and the social and economic changes that occurred around 1400.Lone Claudi-HansenSydvestsjællands Museum

Crafting the future: envisioning space exploration in post-war Britain

Prior to the launch of Sputnik, knowledge about human space travel was widely circulated by spaceflight proponents, scientists and news producers in mainstream culture through print, film and broadcast media and displayed in public sites such as museums and public exhibition spaces. Focusing on the timeframe 1947–1953, this article examines how key members of the British Interplanetary Society used a combination of craft skills, graphical technologies, and communication media to create pictures and models to support rhetorical claims that spaceflight and astronautics are legitimate fields of scientific research and space travel could and should be achieved in the near future. Production and circulation of factual knowledge about space travel was not confined to material and discursive practices in established fields such as astronomy and aeronautical engineering. Actors from other professional, non-professional, and social groups contributed to the realization of future spaceflight as an heterogeneous cultural endeavor or astroculture encompassing an array of technical processes, artifacts, craft skills, and scientific knowledge.

Learning crafts as practices of masculinity. Finnish male trainee teachers' reflections and experiences

Craft education in Finland has long gendered traditions that effect the present situation. The aim of this paper is to analyse the processes of learning the interlinking of crafts and gender. The analysis concentrates on male trainee teachers' experiences of craft education in comprehensive schools in Finland. Data were collected through memory work and autobiographical writing. The analysis revealed how the boys had linked the term ‘technical crafts’ with masculinity, (1) as part of their upbringing at home surrounded by the gender order of their childhood families; (2) following the school model that technical crafts are a masculine sphere for boys; and (3) the importance and pressures of the boys' peer culture. Through learning crafts, the boys were learning the masculinities of their local ‘communities of practices’. The prospective teachers' reflections revealed the importance of studying gender issues in teacher education.

From simplicism to complexity in leadership identity and preparation: exploring the lineage and dark secrets

This article challenges the largely Western, functionalist and unitary notion of the self which underlies contemporary international approaches to educational leadership preparation. It locates an alternative concept of the self as simultaneously singular and multiple in deep‐rooted and persisting mythic, religious and metaphysical thinking. The article suggests that identity is self‐ and co‐constructed to achieve a sense of coherence, worth and belonging, primarily through ongoing narratives and relationships. As a consequence, a leader must construct an identity performance to take up the role of leader, develop narratives and adapt identities to the ongoing surveillance of an accountability audience. The article suggests that preparation, in focusing on the acquisition of technical craft skills related to administration and socialization into a generally uncontested set of values and norms, evades and miniaturizes the performance of leadership. The preparation of leaders for complex, uncertain and ambiguous roles may be supported by focusing on the mythic narratives of self and context, thereby examining how the many fluid and constantly mutating intersections of conscious and subconscious selves may be utilized to enact a self‐aware leadership.

Arts-Based Instructional Leadership: Crafting a Supervisory Practice that Supports the Art of Teaching

If teaching at its best is an art (Davis, 2005; Sarason, 1999; Grumet, 1993; Eisner, 1985; Barone, 1983; Greene, 1971; Smith 1971), then instructional leadership of teaching, done best, must also be based in art (Behar-Horenstein, 2004; Klein, 1999; Eisner, 1983 & 1998a; Blumberg, 1989; Barone, 1998). The author examines possible applications of an arts-based approach to instructional leadership (Blumberg, 1989; Pajak, 2003; Barone, 1998). Building on the research base regarding instructional leadership as art form, the author combines the Feldman Method (Feldman, 1995) of critique, Eisner’s (1998) notion of connoisseurship and Ragans’ (2005) articulation of the elements of art and the principles of design to construct a practice that captures both the technical craft of teaching and the aesthetic dimensions evident in artistic pedagogy (Eisner, 1983; Sarason, 1999). Preliminary results of an ongoing implementation study are presented.

One of a Kind

Although critics have always included Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916) in the canon, neglected stories like "Ein Original" ("One of a Kind") may help us to reclaim her as a feminist. First published in 1898 and later in the collection Aus Spätherbsttagen: Erzählungen (1901), it portrays a girl who excels in the male-dominated field of electrical engineering, the circa-1900 equivalent of computer science, and who does so with paternal support and approval. Here Ebner, herself a trained watchmaker and married for five decades to an engineer, writes knowledgeably about technology while questioning those cultural dichotomies that pit "feminine" feeling and literary art against "masculine" rationality and technical craft. Her ending, however, suggests the risks.

Et le code s'est fait chair. A propos des mythes et des techniques biologiques

And the code became flesh. Myths and biological techniques. One of the fundamental historical mutations of the history of techniques is its interconnection with that of modern science barely 500 years ago. Traditional techniques disappeared or were entirely revolutionized ; the traditional technical crafts were obliged to take part in a movement whose logic was based on, among other things, specialized tasks and an unlimited political and economic expansion. These changes are the cause of an erroneous but dominant interpretation, especially in the French academic world, which holds modern techniques to be applications of scientific theories ; these techniques are thus confused with what we call the applied sciences or with technology, the suffix logos implying scientific rational. Techniques are at best thought of as "servants of science" and at worst, they are merely the application of science. It is, however, possible to give another interpretation to technical know-how which preserves its individuality without ignoring its interconnection with modern scientific methods and conceptions. This point of view sheds a new light capable of illuminating the position of modern industrial societies so profoundly marked by the development of these new allies, science and techniques. These reflections lead to two fundamental questions. The first regards the cultural origins of our ignorance regarding the individuality of techniques. The second is closely related : if we accept the evidence suggesting the autonomy of techniques, how to describe this individuality ? The reflection on the individuality of techniques thus brings forth another, often ignored aspect, much deeper than often suspected : the close relation between techniques and living organisms.