Empowering People to Make Artifacts

When we look at the word Artifact from an etymological perspective, we see the words "art" and "facere", which reveals the word's basis as "to make art." How do artifacts of note come into the world? I think it starts with a goal grand enough to lead you on an auspicious quest. A luck-producing quest.

Before I started to work on the jet engine, I invented, produced, and marketed a toy called the RingWing. It was a flying foam disc, with properties allowing it to ricochet off walls and boomerang. Did I intend to make the RingWing? No, it was an accident derived from the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) that I was working on.

I wanted to make a UAV that looked kind of like a top hat. At the top, it would suck in air with a ducted fan and then blow it over a circular wing. The wing could be positioned to alter the vehicles center of gravity so that it could hover or move from side to side. This project was difficult. There were aerodynamic surfaces, control mechanisms, and a bunch of software I would have to design to get the whole thing off the ground. Did I know how difficult it would be? I had no clue.

Luckily, a wing I made from Styrofoam, as a component of the greater project, was an interesting enough device onto itself. At one point in the UAV development, I casually threw the wing, and seeing how it glided so effortlessly, almost magically, I started to get interested in it, and showing it to people. Below is a promotional video my business partner and I made.

One day, I was showing the wing at a party, and the father of one of my friends asked me if I could make a thousand of these for him to give away at a conference. I told him, "No." After I realized I was passing up a great adventure and a lot of money, I called him back and said I could. And so I went about making the RingWing, finding the right people, and getting the right manufacturers and suppliers. It worked. I got the RingWings to the conference, and they were well received.

The point of this story, is that this noteworthy object in my life, came about from a greater quest. A presumptuous goal ensures you will have to do marvelous things for its achievement. I see many people take on paltry endeavors. I hate it. It is contemptible when an able person picks a meager goal. I understand why it happens. Fear and greed are powerful forces. And oftentimes, such fools clothe their goals in grandeur, and that infuriates me even more.

Pick something bold. It's worth it. I've picked this jet engine as something I want to come into the world. I hope you pick something that thrills you as much as I am thrilled.

Note: Someone made a piloted craft similar to the one I imagined.