Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/97302
Manliness The Art of By Brett & Kate McKay, courtesy of artofmanliness.com The Tool Works at Both Ends F JOBS for TEAMS | rom chipping out spearheads in primitive times to modern day tinkering with computer chips, men have always been very connected to their tools. For thousands of years tools have magnified and extended our natural abilities, allowing us to gain power and control over nature and our circumstances and better fulfill our roles as providers and protectors. Tools enable us to mold and shape things in our external environment for our use and benefit. And that is what we typically focus on when it comes to tools: what does this tool allow me to do? But something else you need to think about is this: what is this tool doing to me? You may have heard that tools are neutral things. And this is true in one aspect; for example, you can use a hammer to drive in a nail…or to bash in 22 JobsForTeams1212_manliness.indd 1 someone's head. But tools are absolutely not neutral in the fact that the tools you choose to use and how you use them not only change things externally but mold you internally.The Jesuit priest and media scholar John Culkin put it this way:"We shape our tools, and thereafter they shape us." Or as Darren's blacksmith friends say,"The tool works at both ends." The way in which you use your tools creates real biological and neurological changes in your brain, which fundamentally alters who you are. This Is Your Brain on Tools Scientists used to think that when we were young, our brains were pliable and easily shaped, but that after adolescence, they set and hardened like concrete. But modern technology, which has given researchers an unprecedented look at what goes on inside the brain, has completely flipped that theory. It turns out our brains are very "plastic," and this is true not only in youth, but throughout our lives. Our brains are constantly being reshaped and rewired every day by our experiences, thoughts, and actions. And also by the tools we use. Examples of how our brains change in accordance with the tools we use are fascinating: When MRI's were done on violinists, it was found that the part of their cerebral www.jobsforteams.com 11/1/12 10:53 AM