Careful Technology

There is a commonplace opinion that technology and the natural world, or that technological pursuits and natural pursuits, are at odds. An example:

“The longer you spend in tech, the stronger the urge to buy a farm and never touch a computer again in your life”

Wendell Berry’s standards for technological innovation. Hard to follow but good to measure any new technology against:

1. The new tool should be cheaper than the one it replaces.

2. It should be at least as small in scale as the one it replaces.

3. It should do work that is clearly and demonstrably better than the one it replaces.

4. It should use less... See more

“People try to do all sorts of clever and difficult things to improve life instead of doing the simplest, easiest thing—refusing to participate in activities that make life bad.”

I liked Wendell Berry’s standards for technological innovation. Hard to follow but good to measure any new technology against:

1. The new tool should be cheaper than the one it replaces.

2. It should be at least as small in scale as the one it replaces.

3. It should do work that is clearly and demonstrably better than the one it replaces.

4. It should ... See more

Even when the tradeoffs are more clear, I think that technology has to feel humane and serve very human purposes to be worthwhile. Most gadgets feel careless and unwholesome and I worry that they, subconsciously, cause us to treat our homes differently. They are not viscerally pleasing, and if you have enough of that sort of thing in your home I th... See more

“People try to do all sorts of clever and difficult things to improve life instead of doing the simplest, easiest thing—refusing to participate in activities that make life bad.”