Mixing labor with a new product

As development of the New Backcountry Boiler moves closer and closer to completion, I’ve had some time to finish a project I started late last summer. My second stand-alone product – slated for release on Monday, July 9 soon – is something I’m really excited about. It’s designed as the Boiler’s complement. Where the Boiler is tuned to perform one task – boil water – with spartan efficiency, the FG is extremely versatile and designed to make nearly any meal, from the most basic to the most cuisine.

The other thing that’s cool about the FG is that it’s completely rebuildable. Not only does this allow for certain components to be kept lightweight without sacrificing the longevity of the product as a whole, but it also allows it to evolve over time. A reincarnation with every rebuild.

Whatsoever then he removes out of the state that nature has provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his labor with, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property.
– John Locke, 1690

Locke was talking about the creation of ownership rights in the previously unowned, right, but I think the concept applies to everything we “mix labor” with. You may “own” that old, broken down Jeep as soon as you pay the scrap yard, but once you put in a new engine, rebuild the tranny and finally replace the dry-rotted upholstery, that when it’s really yours. I hope that by making it inherently rebuildable, the FG will lend itself to not only a long life, but the same opportunity for users to mix their own labor with it and really make it theirs.