Mon Jun 7, 02021, 11:30PM UTC
Lee Vinsel and Andrew Russell
Unsung Heroes of Technological Societies – The Maintainers
This conversation, featuring Lee Vinsel and Andy Russell, explored the important ways in which Long Now Boston’s commitment to long-term thinking synchronizes with the Maintenance Mindset being promoted by Andy, Lee and The Maintainers to keep things working
The Maintainers movement was founded by Lee Vinsel and Andrew Russell in 2014 – 2015, as a joke about the hyper focus on tech innovators. But without the “Bureaucrats, Standards Engineers, and Introverts” that make things run, that revolution would never have gotten off the ground. So they wrote “The Innovation Delusion” (2020), and founded a global non-profit dedicated to maintenance, infrastructure, repair, and the labor and expertise that sustains our human-built world.
Lee Vinsel is a professor in the Department of Science, Technology and Society at Virginia Tech. With Andrew L. Russell, he is a founders of the Maintainers research network and conferences, and authors of The Innovation Delusion. Their work and writing on the topic of maintenance have appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post and WIRED magazine.
Lee Vinsel
Andrew L. Russell is a professor of history and the dean of the College of Arts and Science at SUNY Polytechnic Institute. With Lee Vinsel, he is a founder of the Maintainers research network and conferences, and authors of The Innovation Delusion. Their work and writing on the topic of maintenance have appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post and WIRED magazine.
Andrew Russell
Speakers
The conversation explored the important ways in which Long Now Boston’s commitment to long-term thinking synchronizes with the Maintenance Mindset being promoted by Andy, Lee and the many other “Maintainers” that keep things working.
The complete conversation is available in the video.