Bunch of amateurs by jack hitt
Summary
Jack Hitt’s novel, Bunch of Amateurs, explores the life and character of various American amateurs. The book introduces the idea of an amateur by introducing an amateur American Historian, David Barron, who was the president of the Gungywamo Society. He then goes on to define an amateur, which was someone with enough self-accumulated knowledge to be able to explain their passion to others. They usually tend to have a “passionate or obsessive love” for something, whether it is science, art, history—anything. This person generally has a compulsive passion for something because they enjoy it, not because if the potential money or fame it could create. The author then begins to list numerous figures from American history could fit the amateur archetype, including Mark Twain, Samuel Gompers, and Bill Gates.
Hitt explains how amateurs see the world in a different way than professionals do, due to their lack of “professionalism”, which he goes on to further describe when he talks about amateur bird classifiers and observers. Hitt cites a 2006 Harvard article, which discussed the “Curse of Knowledge”. Essentially, many of the fundamental breakthroughs in many fields were due to those who weren’t acquainted with the jargon of the field. This allows them, as the article claimed, to see things that insiders look past. To support such a conclusion, he uses the computer programming manual as an example, where the professional (the writer of the manual) wrote a manual that was quite confusing for the amateur (the customer) because they were “… frustratingly opaque, even hilariously so. We had to wait for some outsiders to write those PC for Dummies books…” (Hitt, 70).
He also commented on how because Amateurism comes out of personal passion, the Amateurs see an undistorted, clear image of things due to their lack of personal bias. Their motive is the sheer joy and pleasure of pursing their passion. They have “… no money, no power, no prestige attacked to seeing anything else. Amateurs mainly just want to know.”(84). However, professionals have their research tied to their salary—their paycheck is at stake. Therefore, Hitt postulates that, “The immediate prospect of money, power, or prestige obviously blurs one’s ability to discern the truth.”(85). Thus, the work produced by an amateur is more genuine and honest.
Hitt discusses the life of an Amateur biochemist in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Mackenzie Cowell has been able to crease a homemade genetics laboratory—created from easily obtainable objects such as things found in CVS. Cowell as congregated with other amateurs like himself, where they form clubs, introduce each other to new ideas, and motivate each other. One of the numerous projects he attempted included genetic engineering—more specifically, “DNA bashing.” DNA bashing is the process of shifting a gene from one life form to another. His goal is to domesticate biotechnology, thus essentially allowing one to design a genome as casually as painting a painting. Essentially, they “…want to put the designer’s toolbox of life [the DNA] into the hands of the amateur… [it] will give [them] an explosion of diversity of new living creatures.”(109). Biohackers from the Bay Area were able to acquire glow-in-the-dark plasmids (a fish gene that allows it to glow in the dark). Well-known institutions, such as MIT, are interested in finding people such as these who prove to be potentially successful. To find budding inventors, scientists, historians, etc., they organize contests with large prizes.
Meredith Patterson, a young women living in San Francisco, has a goal of cultivating bacteria at home, improvising a homemade electroporation device to transfer the glow-in-the-dark gene to the bacterium’s DNA, then using the bacterium to cultivate yogurt according to regular recipes. As portrayed in her hunt for materials, amateurs are particularly good at finding otherwise expensive materials due to a tight budget. Then, using genuine creativity and a complex passion and knowledge for biochemistry and inorganic chemistry, she is able to find a combination of inorganic materials to isolate the DNA of pea cells, a process known as DNA extraction. The product of the process is pure DNA. The author then explains another pro of amateurism: “The pleasure of inventing everything yourself—starting from scratch—gives this operation… a king of buttress against frustration… expected failures of any experiment cycle were easily brushed off as she improvised her way to the next step.” (117). Amateurs are free, their success isn’t bound to a paycheck. This fact makes the outcome of an experiment less stressful and more relaxing and pleasurable. If one worked in an office, a failure would be something frustrating and embarrassing, and is directly tied to pay. Using such evidence, the author concludes the central, main idea of the entire book: “…play is more productive than work.”(120).
The author then moves onto astronomy—a topic that attracts numerous amateurs just due to its easy accessibility. These amateurs range from casual stargazers to intense, star and galaxy cataloguers assisting research astronomers. For example, some are, “…volunteers willing to… confirm and reconfirm the location of variable stars, or hunt for supernovae, or scour the barely discernible blinks and wobbles of faraway stars suggestive of an exoplanet.” (209). Galaxy Zoo is a site that allows anyone to look at pictures of galaxies and identify the type of galaxy it is. This site has published twenty scholarly papers. Many of them partake in their own DIY observations, devising new theories, or creating new pieces of equipment. Many amateurs have took it upon themselves to catalogue and identify many astronomical objects. In fact, Hitt claims that the majority of the sky had been identified and named by amateurs. Many amateur stargazers host what are known as star parties—large gatherings of stargazers during a significant astronomical event, such as the annual Perseid meteor shower or the rare comet Ison.
Connection to the thesis
Jack Hitt’s novel is an ideal portrayal of pioneers of the metaphorical frontier (amateurs) who are fueled by nothing other than their genuine passion and curiosity for the given subject, whether it be astronomy or anthropology. It would be an error to carelessly discard the efforts of an amateur in any given subject, as numerous sources confirm that many important discoveries are accredited to amateurs. Such discoveries are responsible for the advancement of the frontier of knowledge. Steve Jobs is responsible for the multi-million computer company Apple. Albert Einstein, who introduced revolutionary ideas to the field of physics (including but not limited to E = mc2 and the theory of general and special relativity) was indeed an amateur. Without Einstein’s contributions, little would be known about the enticing secrets hidden within the fabric of the universe. These pioneers didn't care about the paycheck or anything—they were in it because they genuinely had a passion in their topic, and felt the urge to push the frontier forwards. The thesis claims that the advancement of the frontier is partially accredited to the abundant curiosity of Americans, which is clearly and coherently conveyed by Jack Hitt’s analysis of the American amateur.
Jack Hitt’s novel, Bunch of Amateurs, explores the life and character of various American amateurs. The book introduces the idea of an amateur by introducing an amateur American Historian, David Barron, who was the president of the Gungywamo Society. He then goes on to define an amateur, which was someone with enough self-accumulated knowledge to be able to explain their passion to others. They usually tend to have a “passionate or obsessive love” for something, whether it is science, art, history—anything. This person generally has a compulsive passion for something because they enjoy it, not because if the potential money or fame it could create. The author then begins to list numerous figures from American history could fit the amateur archetype, including Mark Twain, Samuel Gompers, and Bill Gates.
Hitt explains how amateurs see the world in a different way than professionals do, due to their lack of “professionalism”, which he goes on to further describe when he talks about amateur bird classifiers and observers. Hitt cites a 2006 Harvard article, which discussed the “Curse of Knowledge”. Essentially, many of the fundamental breakthroughs in many fields were due to those who weren’t acquainted with the jargon of the field. This allows them, as the article claimed, to see things that insiders look past. To support such a conclusion, he uses the computer programming manual as an example, where the professional (the writer of the manual) wrote a manual that was quite confusing for the amateur (the customer) because they were “… frustratingly opaque, even hilariously so. We had to wait for some outsiders to write those PC for Dummies books…” (Hitt, 70).
He also commented on how because Amateurism comes out of personal passion, the Amateurs see an undistorted, clear image of things due to their lack of personal bias. Their motive is the sheer joy and pleasure of pursing their passion. They have “… no money, no power, no prestige attacked to seeing anything else. Amateurs mainly just want to know.”(84). However, professionals have their research tied to their salary—their paycheck is at stake. Therefore, Hitt postulates that, “The immediate prospect of money, power, or prestige obviously blurs one’s ability to discern the truth.”(85). Thus, the work produced by an amateur is more genuine and honest.
Hitt discusses the life of an Amateur biochemist in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Mackenzie Cowell has been able to crease a homemade genetics laboratory—created from easily obtainable objects such as things found in CVS. Cowell as congregated with other amateurs like himself, where they form clubs, introduce each other to new ideas, and motivate each other. One of the numerous projects he attempted included genetic engineering—more specifically, “DNA bashing.” DNA bashing is the process of shifting a gene from one life form to another. His goal is to domesticate biotechnology, thus essentially allowing one to design a genome as casually as painting a painting. Essentially, they “…want to put the designer’s toolbox of life [the DNA] into the hands of the amateur… [it] will give [them] an explosion of diversity of new living creatures.”(109). Biohackers from the Bay Area were able to acquire glow-in-the-dark plasmids (a fish gene that allows it to glow in the dark). Well-known institutions, such as MIT, are interested in finding people such as these who prove to be potentially successful. To find budding inventors, scientists, historians, etc., they organize contests with large prizes.
Meredith Patterson, a young women living in San Francisco, has a goal of cultivating bacteria at home, improvising a homemade electroporation device to transfer the glow-in-the-dark gene to the bacterium’s DNA, then using the bacterium to cultivate yogurt according to regular recipes. As portrayed in her hunt for materials, amateurs are particularly good at finding otherwise expensive materials due to a tight budget. Then, using genuine creativity and a complex passion and knowledge for biochemistry and inorganic chemistry, she is able to find a combination of inorganic materials to isolate the DNA of pea cells, a process known as DNA extraction. The product of the process is pure DNA. The author then explains another pro of amateurism: “The pleasure of inventing everything yourself—starting from scratch—gives this operation… a king of buttress against frustration… expected failures of any experiment cycle were easily brushed off as she improvised her way to the next step.” (117). Amateurs are free, their success isn’t bound to a paycheck. This fact makes the outcome of an experiment less stressful and more relaxing and pleasurable. If one worked in an office, a failure would be something frustrating and embarrassing, and is directly tied to pay. Using such evidence, the author concludes the central, main idea of the entire book: “…play is more productive than work.”(120).
The author then moves onto astronomy—a topic that attracts numerous amateurs just due to its easy accessibility. These amateurs range from casual stargazers to intense, star and galaxy cataloguers assisting research astronomers. For example, some are, “…volunteers willing to… confirm and reconfirm the location of variable stars, or hunt for supernovae, or scour the barely discernible blinks and wobbles of faraway stars suggestive of an exoplanet.” (209). Galaxy Zoo is a site that allows anyone to look at pictures of galaxies and identify the type of galaxy it is. This site has published twenty scholarly papers. Many of them partake in their own DIY observations, devising new theories, or creating new pieces of equipment. Many amateurs have took it upon themselves to catalogue and identify many astronomical objects. In fact, Hitt claims that the majority of the sky had been identified and named by amateurs. Many amateur stargazers host what are known as star parties—large gatherings of stargazers during a significant astronomical event, such as the annual Perseid meteor shower or the rare comet Ison.
Connection to the thesis
Jack Hitt’s novel is an ideal portrayal of pioneers of the metaphorical frontier (amateurs) who are fueled by nothing other than their genuine passion and curiosity for the given subject, whether it be astronomy or anthropology. It would be an error to carelessly discard the efforts of an amateur in any given subject, as numerous sources confirm that many important discoveries are accredited to amateurs. Such discoveries are responsible for the advancement of the frontier of knowledge. Steve Jobs is responsible for the multi-million computer company Apple. Albert Einstein, who introduced revolutionary ideas to the field of physics (including but not limited to E = mc2 and the theory of general and special relativity) was indeed an amateur. Without Einstein’s contributions, little would be known about the enticing secrets hidden within the fabric of the universe. These pioneers didn't care about the paycheck or anything—they were in it because they genuinely had a passion in their topic, and felt the urge to push the frontier forwards. The thesis claims that the advancement of the frontier is partially accredited to the abundant curiosity of Americans, which is clearly and coherently conveyed by Jack Hitt’s analysis of the American amateur.