http://www.anthonares.net/2005/11/radical-evolution-middle-of-road-guide.html Chronicling and Commenting on Human Progress Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:34:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2 http://www.anthonares.net/2005/11/radical-evolution-middle-of-road-guide.html#comment-1179 Anthonares » Blog Archive » “Better Off”? Thu, 01 Jun 2006 02:25:42 +0000 http://www.anthonares.net/2005/11/radical-evolution-middle-of-road-guide.html#comment-1179 [...] “Better Off”? [Amish, Progress, Society, Technology]Late last year I read “Radical Evolution” by Joel Garreau and got fairly excited about the prospect of the technological singularity we are supposedly approaching. Because I enjoy reading completely opposing viewpoints (with the exception of most of the scarcely-readable screed that passes for political writing), I picked up a copy of “Better Off : Flipping the Switch on Technology” by Eric Brende. In it, Brende chronicles an eighteen-month stint living in a psuedo-Amish community somewhere in the midwest. I am an unabashed supporter of the fundamental idea that science and technology are helping us progress to a better state. Brende argues the opposite thesis: unthinking adoption of mechanized technology has separated humans from each other, the land they once knew, and the societies that mutual hard work helped to foster. [...] […] “Better Off”? [Amish, Progress, Society, Technology]Late last year I read “Radical Evolution” by Joel Garreau and got fairly excited about the prospect of the technological singularity we are supposedly approaching. Because I enjoy reading completely opposing viewpoints (with the exception of most of the scarcely-readable screed that passes for political writing), I picked up a copy of “Better Off : Flipping the Switch on Technology” by Eric Brende. In it, Brende chronicles an eighteen-month stint living in a psuedo-Amish community somewhere in the midwest. I am an unabashed supporter of the fundamental idea that science and technology are helping us progress to a better state. Brende argues the opposite thesis: unthinking adoption of mechanized technology has separated humans from each other, the land they once knew, and the societies that mutual hard work helped to foster. […]

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