My two favorite quotes: “No Man Is an Island”(1) and “Hell Is Other People”(2). This conundrum – group versus individual - is the very struggle that all of humanity has been handed.  It can go in several directions, the worst of which is tyranny. This interplay between group and individual manifests as cooperation or struggle. The balance is where success of both group and individual will be found. Even so, without question, free individuals will invariably make the group they comprise strong and successful. Free individuals will therefore create the strongest and most beneficial society.  

So began the Great American Experiment…The sovereignty of the United States of America brought on and continued what is called the Great American Experiment.  It’s been a success for almost 250 years and that successful experiment became a world-wide inspiration to join the revolution of freedom and independence.  The pursuit of freedom and the respect for the individual ultimately led to the demise of slavery.  Freedom and individuality for all bred great innovation, and great innovation created wealth and strength. This is how the USA became the greatest superpower the world has ever known. 

The Great American Experiment was just that…Great! A great success!  It was not the group of states, nor the states, nor the counties, cities or communities that made the USA great. It was the individual!  Each individual’s freedom and free will enables one to innovate. Also, the wealth and strength of the American nation is not only credited to the individual but also to a moral code, yet not just any moral code created by the government, but one based on Judeo-Christian values. These values are ingrained into our western civilization and are a large part of our general culture. These values are what connect most of the systems, groups, and communities together and keep them at peace with each other no matter what culture one comes from. Pretty much all of us want to be accepted and loved, and many of us want to be a part of something. It’s in our general nature as humans to be part of a family, tribe, community or whatever it may be. We may choose a system within our culture that suits our perspective way of thinking or profession, craft, or trade, etc. Our free will to be what we want to be is what makes us individuals, and we must not forget that the individual is what makes our perspective groups strong.

The unique qualities of each individual truly make the group stronger, and this insures the groups’ survival.  We need our individuals: blacksmiths, woodworkers, warriors, hunters, mothers, fathers, doctors, etc. - whatever one’s chosen craft, trade or profession may be. All these individual professions add to the survival of the social system, but when too much value or focus is emphasized on the system, group, community, club or state, the individuals can be lost, banished, canceled or erased, and this ultimately can lead to the demise of the system, group, community, club, state or whatever the social structure may be. We see this often with current trends, fashions, politics, products and even schools of thought. Individuals flock to a trend, current fashion, or way of thinking and sometimes they lose themselves and their identity to the system.  This is the danger of the collective.  The collective is often easily manipulated by an internal or external force.  Visualize a school of fish swimming in unison away from a predator or visualize an intelligent predator herding a group of individuals into its trap to ultimately devour them. A farmer can herd sheep or cattle into a corral for the slaughter very easily.  It’s much harder for the farmer to individually chase down each single animal for capture.  This basic concept is used to take advantage of the masses. Trends, styles, and current social charges can all be used to manipulate and control. Governments, as well as corporations and other entities, large and small, all use this basic technique to control and manipulate, whether it be for the good of the group, for  self-profit or sometimes for pure evil intent.  

We could go deeper into the social structure which can vary from society to society, but the purpose of this piece is to bring awareness of the importance of the individual in a system. An over emphasis and focus on the community like what we see in our current culture can be very dangerous.  Treating the community as a single collective organism removes the individual. The emotion of the collective organism can be powerful and extremely dangerous especially when no individual is ultimately accountable. This (the passion of the collective) can be used for extreme malice and destruction.  Visualize the recent riots or the current “cancel culture” as examples.  Too easily the group’s collective emotion can be manipulated and herded to do the bidding of an entity with a goal, and that goal always seems to be the devouring of some tangible aspect of the community. It can be their skills, their money, their property, or any number of things, including intellectual property or even freedom and social status.  It all depends on the group and the ultimate goal of the entity whether it’s regarded as a good or bad actor.  

Here is a personal example of a nameless entity steering a group in a way that diminishes that community or degrades it. As an artisan and an artist, I personally find the recently popularized term “maker” to be demeaning. Allow me to explain.  Maker is a term that is used to describe something that executes the construction and/or assembly of a specific provided design or recipe. A maker is not necessarily an individual; it can be a mindless machine like a robot. I view the term “maker” as denigrating because it removes the human individual. I believe the term was incorporated into our modern culture as a way for a designer to establish “ownership” of the specific design that the “maker” assembles for the designer.  The term is not respectful.  A “maker” is not just a “maker”.  Most are innovative individuals. A better and more respectful term would be artisan. Artisans use their skills and tools of the art or trade in a multitude of ways which includes, among other things, the creative processes involved just to execute the production of the design. In most cases, the artisan will design and craft tools, jigs, and processes to efficiently execute the production and assembly of the design.  This is an artform in itself and deserves a better appreciation.  In most cases it takes a wisdom that only comes from experience. The individual artisan is an innovator, a designer, and in most cases an engineer.  

The phrase “maker community” seems too empty to describe a community of these artisans. I cringe every time I hear the term. I spent a lifetime perfecting my artform to only now be called a “maker”. Nothing special- just one who makes copies- a robot, a printer… not an artist. In a world where computers, robots and machines are steadily replacing our workforce, it’s only a matter of time before they replace the so-called “maker”.  It is easy to replace a maker, but you can never replace an individual, artist, artisan, or experienced craftsman.  There is a certain wisdom that comes with the human experience that is ultimately reflected in an artisan’s work.  A collective of makers, robots, or machines is easily controlled. A collective or community made up of individual artisans is not easily controlled. If we artisans are all just “makers” and not individuals… if we are all just machines making, performing mindless tasks, or even just labeled as such, what keeps those who wish to herd us or control us from devouring us, using us up, and replacing us when we are no longer useful.  Robots and machines are much like slaves in that they are given no pay or respect, no love or compassion. They are just used until broken beyond repair and ultimately thrown away and replaced.   Are you beginning to see the picture? Now expand my personal example out into the greater society and you can begin to understand why the individual is the most important unit of society. The parameters of society should be such that the individual persons, as opposed to groups, are empowered to contribute unique talents rather than being mere pawns manipulated by shadowy entities. Individuals should have the agency to make their own choices, and it is through personal responsibility and initiative that an individual will thrive. Each person is an integral unit in the groups and communities that make up our society, and as such, the empowered individual strengthens the group, and balance can be achieved.

Our society has come full circle. We fought and earned our freedom to only, in our current culture, give it away for the comfort of a collective without accountability. But, as with humanity throughout the ages, tides turn and the zeitgeist shifts, morphs and is reimagined yet again.

"No Man Is an Island" by John Donne

Footnotes

1. John Donne, “No Man is an Island”

2. Jean-Paul Sartre, No Exit January 30, 2025