“80% of projects are trivial. 20% are impossible. We must work in the thin boundary between these two classes.” — Edsger Dijkstra (quoted from memory) Public Invention fosters project-based invention teams that work “In the public, for the public.” Experience has shown this is a great way to learn, although learning is a secondary benefit […]
What Makes A Good Public Invention Project? (long form) Read More »
Science is about truth; engineering is about compromise. At Public Invention, we do both, but perhaps more engineering than science. Our goal is to have a large positive impact on many people; but time and money are always in short supply. How, then, to compromise on which projects to prioritize? In order to be able
The Fuller Scale: A Unit of Humanitarian Invention Impact Read More »
The 7-Tet Tetrobot, a Public Invention Many of us hear the song of the maker. As Dorothy Sayers has pointed out in the “Mind of the Maker”, making is a participation in, or at least a simulation of, the divine. It has always been so, but it has never been easier. Today, we have maker
How to Graduate from Maker to Public Inventor Read More »
Mind, Body, Spirit. Strength, Flexibility, Endurance. Faith, Hope, Love. We like to think in threes. Sometimes we want our Mind, our Body, and our Spirit to be in balance; sometimes we just want to assert how something stands. As it happens, I had a bike wreck two weeks ago; right now, my Body is weaker than
A UX widget for expressing balance: Triad Balance Read More »
Leonardo da Vinci said, “The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.” But he was wrong — the greatest pleasure is successful collaboration to help others. We can perhaps forgive Leonardo this slip, as no doubt it was hard for him to find co-workers who could keep up with him; I have no such limitation.
The Joy of Collaboration Read More »
“Oyarsa”, by Robert L. Read I probably should not have taken up oil painting; I have always admired art done with pen-and-ink, which produces very thin, precise lines. It is possible to make thin lines with oil paint, but it is difficult. One must either have a terribly steady hand with a very fine brush,
Public Invention Project #40: A Wheel for Painting Very Thin Lines Read More »
The Glussbot, a Tetrobot invented by Public Invention. Public Invention is a non-profit whose mission is to “invent in the public, for the public”, and our first 43 projects can be found here. Our goal is to create humanitarian projects that conform to our mission, and to coach these projects to create inventions that make us all
43 Public Invention Projects That Need You Read More »
A hexagonal-centered toroidal 1.053-bounded regular tetrahedral simplex chain, discovered at the Mathathon by Nathan Gilbert. Two weekends ago, something rare happened. Thirteen people, sharing only a common interest in math, joined together from India, the Middle-East, England, Canada and the United States to solve real math problems. As might be expected, most of them dropped
The Story of a Public, Cooperative Mathathon Read More »
The Mission of Public Invention is to “Invent in the public, for the public.” We invent things that help all people. We empower inventors, technologists, and students to publish, find, and collaborate on invention ideas through direct coaching, team formation, curation of work, publication, co-working and learning events, and, in some cases, material support. We
Mission of Public Invention, 2.0 Read More »
Invent things that help humanity. Please see below for an explanation of why the mission statement is being published at this time. If this mission statement appeals to you and you would like to learn more about Public Invention, please contact me <read.robert@gmail.com>, — or, respond here so that others can benefit from your response.
Public Invention: Mission Statement, 2018 Read More »
