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Feb 1, 2005

"The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak." --Hans Hofmann

MacGyver for the Third World

MacArthur fellow Amy Smith has a stable of oldfangled technologies that she has reconfigured and applied to underdeveloped areas around the world. Her solutions include new grain-processing techniques, alternative cooking fuels and water-quality tests. "A lot of people look at where technology is right now and start from there, instead of looking at the absolute functionality. If you go back to the most basic principals, you can eliminate complexity."