Back to the Caves! er...Farms!

[bluegargantua]

Hey,

So my most recent reading material has been: Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology by Eric Brende. This being part of my "how might life look without ready access to oil?" research.

The short answer is: We're all better off with the most minimal of technology. Work is good for body and soul. Cars and other mechanical devices tend to enslave rather than empower. Freaky Amish/Mennonites may have wonky spiritual beliefs, but they're probably better people than us becuase they've avoided modern technology.

It was short of practicals, and more of a cheerleading section for 18th Century lifestyles. The one thing that rather bothered me about the entire affair is that the author and his wife have two children...mainly because they don't bother with contraception in any real format (preferring to let pregnancy/breastfeeding space out the children). This seems really stupid to me.

I suppose in a post-oil situation, having lots of labor on hand to help with the farm is a goood thing, but that just means more mouths to feed and can that really be supported. How can you balance the need for a steady, healthy workforce and local carrying capacity? Also, this might have some chilling implications for women's rights. Amish/Mennonite life has strongly defined gender roles, but it's not quite the same thing as gender inequality -- the sexes aren't equal, but they do have their own important spheres of influence. Societies in transition/crisis might not even rise to that level.

I think how well American ideals of equality and social justice survive in a harsher environment might be a daring but important aspect of the game for people to explore.

later
Tom

Comments

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

Nothing? Blank pages? Curious minds want to know.

[usagijer.livejournal.com]

_Lesbian Nuns: Breaking the Silence_

[shiffer.livejournal.com]

Two children doesn't really sounds outrageous to me, I have to say. Did you by any chance mean "Twelve"?

[jeregenest.livejournal.com]

First, I recognize one can make moral judgements on technology. What I disagree with is that judgement being some vague (and often inconsistent) time period cut-off. There are many technologies that couldn't exist until the 20th century that one can se, without doubt as morally good (water filtration for example where the technology could have been done centuries ago if anyone had understood the science).

Second, it is my personal experience that people who claim to be more "morally" sound because of their lifestyle choices are usually not. Having grown up with a lot of homesteaders and back-to-the-land types, some of whom were living in lifestyles several centuries old, I find it neither liberating nor desirable. There is also the issue that these people normally are enabled to make their decision ebcause of the elvel or wealth of the surrounding society (and of their own wealth).

Third, Kunstler gets his science wrong in several places as far as I can tell and its much to early to give up on alternate energy and technology as part of a solution.

[dirkcjelli.livejournal.com]

Bloody luddites.

Children Total

[bluegargantua]

As of the writing, there are 3 children, all spaced about 2.5 years apart. So in...8-10 years they've had 3 kids. And the book suggests that there is sex on a regular basis and that no particular contraception is used.

later
Tom