The Amish as a source of tech-savvy guidance
I remember a few years back reading a National Geographic article about the Amish and their love of cellphones. The point was the Amish accepted cell phones where they had rejected landlines for the simple reason that with cellphones they could turn them off, with a landline your family time could be interrupted.<p>The bigger picture was that the Amish view of technology was not to view 1857 or whenever as the year technology stopped, but their view was to evaluate technology in light of where it fit in their culture. Hard work is a virtue, so why do I want tools to make things easier. Raising barns together draws us together as a community, so what's the value in technology that lets fewer people build a building. And so forth and so on.<p>On the surface the idea of evaluation technology based on impact seems great, but the thing is the Amish never invent anything. The rest of culture invents without thinking about the consequences and deals with the consequent. The Amish have the luxury of sitting back and evaluating after the fact. In fairness, I don't think the Amish really care if anything new does get invented, but they have effectively externalized the downsides of technology onto the rest of us while reaping the occasional upside.