Living With Technology

Technology has been weaved into the fabric of our lives, so we must figure out where it should sit in this highest quilt - in preparation and hope that if this thread pops loose it will not be the unraveling of our entire work.

Examples of Technology

I will consider human-made devices technology: a camera, a house, a trellis, money, government, and a quilt are technology.

Hands, seeds, & rabbits are not technology.

Technology & Our Goals

Technology is a tool - meaning it should serve a purpose toward a goal. This goal should be located outside of the tool itself, less it is perverse development.

Goals which are accomplishable without human-made technology are divinely blessed and naturally permitted; with everything else we must be more careful to exercise our power positively.

Technology & Communication

For most, Technology sacrifices quality of communication for quantity. For some, it enhances quality (text-to-speech, braille). There is no moralism to prescribe to this but we should be aware of the trade-off we’re making when we communicate via technology.

Technology can confuse us into thinking there’s an opportunity to develop relationships later. Knowing this to be false we must embrace others fully from the start.

We must be most conscious and critical of the communication technology that is made available to us.

We should remember that text is inherently imbalanced - Unlike a hug somebody always has the last word.

In regards to social media we should consider heavily before sharing directionless content (stories, posts, photos) - since this content is not about our friends but rather it is about us. We can only hope to keep our friends with such anti-social behavior.

Technology & Our Health

We are making some heavy sacrifices in the name of technology & many of these have to do with our health.

We must remember that living longer does not mean a healthier life.

Feed technology is an assault on our attention spans (TV news, snapchat, facebook, etc). There is value in these things but we should be suspicious if we find it in the directionless feed of content.

We must remember that feed content is not at all directionless, it’s directed toward us - the product. It is natural for this to fill us with disgust, shame, and embarrassment.

We must remember that computers are representation at best. The only literal fact of them is fast light.

A sedentary life is a passive life.

In Praise of Low-Technology

Low-tech lends itself to repair.
Low-tech is humble, doing a few things very well.
Low-tech can be sustainable.
Low-tech never needs to be charged.