This chapter illustrates the ingenuity of man in building machines to ease the way of living in the absence of electric power and with limited technology. Despite the author’s cool realization of how skill is expanding “when the quantity of machine shrinks”, I found parts of the chapter hard to read, and was confused by the description of inventions such as the ram and the water mill. That may just prove the author’s point that the more basic human know-how gets lost with the use of technology. However I strongly believe that overall human knowledge today is far greater because of advancements in technology.
In the beginning Eric seems hesitant at the idea of getting running water and possibly compromising his experiment, but throughout the chapter he comes to realize that these people aren’t afraid of all technology and actually embrace some of it. For example, I found the versatility of the wood cookstove pretty impressive. In addition, all of the inventions seem so much better for the environment than their electric counterparts.
The parts where the author struggles with the cultipacker contraption and is being chased by the cattle were funny. Discovering how to run the machines gives Eric a sense of accomplishment, similar I believe to any learning of a new skill, while the chase by harmless baby steers leaves the author a little embarrassed.
2 comments:
I think that technology is really moving in a different way. I think Melissa said this is one of her posts, about Maslow's Hierarchy. If we think of all of society, not just a single person, using Maslow's Hierarchy I would put the Amish on one of the lower bounds. They are more worried about having food to eat, and just funding ways to get through the daily necessities that they don't have time to worry about the other forms of knowledge. This is a very narrow statement, and I don't really think it applies in all Minimite cases!
That's a great point! What is funny is that this is their choice. It's like they choose to have those lower level values because they are more important in this community. Not only that, but it seems that the highest level value in the model- self-actualization - is gainst their core belief of self-surrender.
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