Role:
Attendee
Quick Facts:
∎ Week-long conference at Ibero Puebla, Mexico, exploring technology, accessibility, and empowerment through fabrication.
∎ Featured hands-on workshops on AI-enabled devices, fabrication tools, and creative prototyping.
∎ Neil Gershenfeld’s keynote and vision inspired a new perspective on technology’s role in empowering individuals.
∎ Explored applications for community-centered learning tools and systems, sparking ideas for scalable progress tracking in personal development.
FAB24 was more than a conference—it was an incubator for groundbreaking ideas on fabrication, accessibility, and community empowerment. Highlights included The Grid, a makerspace system from Griffin Museum’s Wanger family, which presents a scalable approach to tracking learning progress in fabrication. This concept resonated with me as I continue seeking adaptable methods for personal and lifelong learning that grow with the rapid evolution of AI tools. Another highlight was Seed Studio’s workshop on accessible, AI-enabled devices that democratize machine learning, sparking ideas for expanding real-world AI applications at a low cost. Finally, Alex McDowell’s lecture on worldbuilding reminded me of the crucial role storytelling will play in helping society adapt to the coming wave of AI disruption. McDowell’s approach to creating immersive narratives resonated as a model for reimagining how we shape our own lives and work within a shifting technological landscape.
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Attending FAB24 wasn’t only about learning from fabrication experts; it was about connecting Neil Gershenfeld’s vision with my own aspirations. Through the FAB Foundation, Neil has cultivated a distributed movement that empowers people to reclaim agency over their environments—a concept I deeply admire. His approach highlights a fundamental truth: the planet’s most valuable resource is its untapped creative potential, a concept that drives my own commitment to using technology to empower individuals. Neil’s philosophy goes beyond making—it’s about fostering environments where people can discover, invent, and build pathways for personal and collective growth.
As I envision my future, I aim to empower people to know themselves more fully, using tools that support self-exploration, learning, and personal reinvention. Like Neil’s fabrication movement, my vision focuses on distributed access—not to fabrication, but to self-discovery and psychological insight. In this critical moment of transition, FAB24 helped me solidify my purpose: to create systems that enable people to explore their identities, values, and goals through technology, finding renewed meaning and agency in their lives. This week at FAB24 was transformative, providing inspiration and grounding as I consider how my work can contribute to a future where technology genuinely serves personal growth and fulfillment.
