The Russian electrical engineer Valentin took a liking to the American lawyer
after the lawyer fixed the Russian's ipad with one quick finger stroke.
Valentin didn't take it personally. He had been trained all his life to solve problems without the assistance of computers or calculators. Growing up in the Soviet Union, he explained, engineers read of advanced western technology based on semiconductors and computers. But they made do without them. Which made them better engineers. Better problem solvers. Valentin joked about his new American co-workers who could not solve problems with a simple logarithmic scale. Or how when the hosts of an NPR talk show asked listeners to solve what they considered to be a simple problem involving speed, distance and arrival times of two automobiles traveling from different cities, Valentin immediately grasped the complexity of question. Eventually, after several days of calculations involving integral calculus he was able to solve the problem. The next week, the hosts of program apologized to the listeners for the question explaining that it was not until their producers had met with several math professors at M.I.T. that a solution was reached (which of course involved a complex application of integral calculus).
So Valentin was old school. A school that flourished before the onset of all these disposable gadgets that make life easier. When was the last time anyone tried to fix a calculator or TV, VCR, or can opener which did not operate anymore? Isn't it cheaper just to buy a new one? Then again, who could fix a broken VCR anyway? How many people in this country really know how a TV works compared to how many people use them? Not so in the former Soviet Union. When a machine broke down it was fixed. There was no running down to Best Buy for a replacement.
Valentin still had a lab in his basement to fix all the abandoned machines. Old School meets Steampunk. The cramped room was littered with oscilloscopes, soldering irons, power supplies, spectrum analyzers, calibrators, ESD simulators, and the vivisected carcasses of electronic equipment of all types--awaiting resurrection. And ressurrect them he did. Not so much that he ever wanted to use the machines again, but just for the sheer love of making something whole again instead of disposing it. Is that all so bad?
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