Creative Autonomy

Ian is a master craftsman when it comes to K'Nex, the Tinker Toys of Generation Z. He builds a great many airplanes, cars, etc., out of them - often looking at picture and whipping together the genuine article in a matter of minutes, like some child prodigy account from a great inventor's biography. He genuinely impresses many adults with this skill - especially me, since I know it would take me much, much longer to come close to building the projects he makes with just a short look at a photograph, or even out of designs originating in his own head.

In any case, he was stressing recently that he had built one such airplane without any assistance, and he said, "And this time, I completely didn't use any help at all."

(October 23, 2008)