The intensive use and reliance of tools is a uniquely human characteristic. The use of tools to assist in accomplishing tasks in the analog, and now as well in digital, contexts have become essential to human existence. Furthermore the tools that we use are a reflection of our actions, our skills, our culture, and most importantly, our identity.

A tool is anything used as a means to facilitate the accomplishment of a task or purpose. Considering this, what tools do you use everyday and how do they tell a story or explain who you are?

In keeping with my profesor’s original vision of documenting the history of human tools, I have been making multi-tools that characterize particular human identities characteristic to certain periods in human history. After all, take into consideration the names of periods in history such as the “stone age” or “the iron age”: the types of tools that humans have used over time have marked breakthroughs and evolutionary changes in human society. I’m not sure how to go about this, but for now, I’ll just design as many as I can and see how many will survive the scrutiny.

Here’s some samples:

"Live Die" (a dice made of iron): during the iron age, humans were beginning to establish complex social hierarchies that gave certain groups more power and opportunities over others. These social hierarchies were often determined at birth, and remained until death. Your chances of being placed higher than another was a matter of chance; you had to be lucky. Each dice represents a different social trait face has a symbol that depicts a different level of that trait. How your life turns out is determined by the single toss of the dice. The iron construction represents the iron age from whence it was created and the dense and heavy material communicates the permanence of each throw.

"O.M.G." (USB Pregnancy tester) this is a pregnancy test that is placed on a USB device. Whenever a woman runs a pregnancy, the event is often intense. The thought of possibly being pregnant can be nerve racking and cause anxiety. In order to cope with personal stresses in today's age, humans tend to blog about their problems, throw their thoughts and release them into the world wide web. If your internet fails during this time, you can save your blog entry and bring it to another computer that has internet.

"Wrenchware" (eating utensils attached to mechanical tools) One side is a spoon, the other is a socket wrench. This tool is from the industrial age, a time where there was a swarm of people flocking to the inner city to work hard, difficult hours in a factory. Workers were worked for so long and paid so little under terrible working conditions, the only things they had time to do were work and eat. After you finish eating dinner, you can go right back to work