Re: Seeding Labs “Equipping Science In The Developing World”
Bryan Bishop
> If you are in the Boston area, Seeding Labs is holding an event on September
> 4: http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/SeedingLabs/tabid/152/Default.aspx
>
> Even if you're not, it sounds like they have a mission which many DIYbio
> members would get behind:
>
> http://www.seedinglabs.org/
>
> """
> Seeding Labs' mission is to support and expand scientific research in
> developing countries by providing affordable reclaimed laboratory equipment
> and facilitating connections with the global scientific research community.
Glad to see this happening. I have always found it confusing that
fablabs "bring infrastructure to the developing world", but all of
their parts and machines are proprietary equipment from the United
States and other parts of the developed world. This doesn't make sense
if you're trying to bring infrastructure support to other people: you
should bring the knowledge to use their means to make what they need,
not necessarily the other way around of dumping machinery on them.
It's kind of like techshop telling its members that you can make
anything with their tools, except you can't make parts for machines to
make another techshop because that would go against their investor's
plans, or something.
Of course, I'm always fond of having machinery, but I would much
rather be able to make the machinery myself. I have talked with other
people running fablabs around the world and they tend to agree that it
would be better if fablabs were able to make their own machine tools,
instead of buying them from the U.S., or getting hand-me-downs from
initiatives like seedinglabs.
But seedinglabs and fablabs and these other initiatives certainly
don't hurt the situation. Though they may lead to people not knowing
how exactly to make the tools in the first place-- which is where the
bottleneck of knowledge is. Not so sure if it's a material resource
thing .. there are all sorts of reclaimable metals floating around the
world.
Cheers.