Our Very Own Prosthetics

The internet has brought us to hundreds, if not millions, of Do-It-Yourself videos. How to make your very own fisheye lens, or your own barbecue, or even your own beer, all these you'll find on the internet. All you have to do is:

          First: Get internet access.
          Second: Open a browser.
          Third: Type whatever video you want to find. 
          Fourth: Press Enter.
          Fifth: Look for a link that suits you.
          Sixth: Watch the video.
          Seventh: Follow the video.

And viola! You have your very own whatever you looked for.

Paul McCarthy (Yes, it's not McCartney from The Beatles.), a father from Massachusetts, build his own son his very own prosthetic hand all from a video he found online.

The DIY video showed him how make a so called prosthetic hand using a 3-D printer, string, bolts and screw. McCarthy figured things out and eventually was able to build a hand for his son. And when his son outgrew the hand, he simply made a new one.

Though this homemade prosthetic hand does not do all the functions of a manufactured prosthetic, its functions are sufficient for everyday life. They help to give the person a relatively normal life, than not having a hand at all.

This homemade invention shows such ingenuity and inventiveness. It went beyond the limitations of buying a manufactured prosthetic from clinics and hospital just so you could function and live like a normal human being, instead tt gave you that same opportunity at a different cost, at such a low cost.

These kinds of inventions bring hope to the future generation. Maybe such technologies do not necessarily need to be as expensive as they are today. Maybe they can be made in different ways that ordinary human beings, not scientists and geeks, have the ability to do. Maybe they don't necessarily need to be as grand as they are today, but still have that awesomeness in them.

We can't limit ourselves to the same path that people have passed on for the past decades, we can pass through a different path and get the same thing. And though different, it might be so bad.

References:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/04/dad-prints-prosthetic-hand-leon-mccarthy_n_4214217.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2478750/Father-builds-prosthetic-hand-son-3-D-printer-watching-online-DIY-video.html