Bricolage and theory of resources

Unlike the magicians of fairy tales or the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament, in the world we live in, it is not possible to create something from nothing.

※See also（Japanese version）
ブリコラージュと資源論（Bricolage and theory of resources）: 本に溺れたい（2017.01.23）

Let us briefly quote the words of the French molecular biologist François Jacob.

In contrast to the engineer, evolution does not produce innovations from scratch. It works on what already exists, either transforming a system to give it a new function or combining several systems to produce a more complex one. [p.34]

In each case, natural selection did what it could with the materials an its disposal. [p.36]

Finally, in cnstrast with the engineer, the tinkerer who wants to refine his work will often add new structures to the old ones rather than replacee them. [p.36]
Francois Jacob, Possible and the Actual, 1982 University of Washington Press

 

I have also discussed this topic in relation to Keiko Nakamura's essay that compares blueprints and recipes, which I previously featured on this blog:

"A Philosophical Reflection on Recipes and Blueprints: Honni Oboretai"

Cooking, in fact, is the very embodiment of bricolage. A skilled cook can, like magic, conjure up several delicious dishes using just the miscellaneous ingredients left in the refrigerator.

Humans cannot create something out of nothing. It is only because there are resources around us that we can act and function. These resources are not limited to visible, tangible items; they also include invisible elements such as ideas, ideologies, traditions, systems, customs, and habits. Even traditions and deep layers of history, which may appear to stand before us like obstacles, should be understood not as constraints on human action, but rather as things that enable and liberate it.

Therefore, with all due respect to François Jacob, even engineers—and engineering itself—at the site of innovation, mobilize not only the physical, material resources scattered around them but also the imaginary resources stored in the interconnected network of memories in their minds. Even a seemingly material machine is imbued with the ideas and imaginations of people from the past. The engineer, often unconsciously, regards these past human notions as resources. A cat or dog, no matter how hungry, would not think to open the refrigerator. That’s because they do not interpret the rectangular metal box as a "food storage device"—they do not read into it the idea of a refrigerator.

Human history is a bricolage, woven by people making use of given resources.

This historical perspective aligns with that of the intellectual historian Hirono Seki's “Mimetic View of History,” in that it stands in contrast to the Western “Genesis” view of history. However, in terms of what each view seeks to discover in history, they seem to differ fundamentally in orientation.

For more, please refer to our related article.
Neurath's Ship: 本に溺れたい