• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 1120 0

for the time being our current home retains its appeal. I am constantly surprised by the informal guises of barter. A lawyer I know, whose office is two blocks away, calls me periodically to witness the signing of wills; in return, I can depend on informal legal advice and invitations to lavish fêtes at her seven-acre spread on the edge of town. During a lull in rickshaw business on an Octoberfest weekend, I asked Sherry, the town librarian, if I could borrow a few clips with which to attach a sign to my canopy. She complied—and called payment due immediately with a request to bring her a bag of kettle corn from a refreshment stand down the street. Don, my next-door neighbor, sometimes watches over our guest quarters on weekends; I repay him with food and drink, which I deliver in person and help consume on his deck.

Along with the revival of wit must come, of course, wisdom in choosing technology. For those who would outstep and outsmart machines, a broad suggestion: remember the principle of minimation. Technology undoubtedly has, and will always have, some role in making life easier or better, so one shouldn’t exclude it. But the role is supplemental. Technology serves us, not we technology.

The principle of minimation can be roughly stated thus: it is better to find a non-technological solution than a technological one, or failing that, a less technological solution than a more technological one. There are at least three reasons for this.

First, a modern automatic machine is no mere inert tool. It is a complex fuel-consuming being with needs of its own. It gobbles up energy; it demands care and maintenance; it even has bouts of temperament. In many cases no diaper will contain its mess. And all this on top of the initial chunk of cash it bites—its purchase price—which often amounts to a king’s ransom. For these reasons, it not only serves but must be served. But it is more than another mouth to feed; as it becomes more involved and involving, it can easily invade the living space we formerly reserved for ourselves, taking on functions once our own.

This brings us to a second and more critical reason for minimation: avoiding usurpation. To cater to an inanimate object’s needs is one thing; to aid and abet our own replacement is another. Duplicating vital human capacities can have one of only two consequences: atrophying the capacities or creating competition between Homo sapiens and machine. Neither of these is savory to self-respecting members of the former. This is not to mention the wasted use of resources or the often superior artistry, elegance, or efficiency of human powers or processes.

The third reason for minimation is recalling the need or end in view. A complex mechanical entity readily overwhelms or subverts the very purpose for which it was deployed. This is because of its sheer immensity and the many unforeseen consequences that such a thing may bring about. Blind to this pitfall, the participants in our automobile culture continue to propagate cars, freeways, sprawl, and development that, as Ivan Illich has pointed out, when hidden costs, labors, and time are added in, leave us moving no faster, and possibly less fast, than we were one hundred years ago in horse-drawn vehicles.

Granting these dangers, technology still has an important place. In our experience, it has come in handy in three main areas.

Bodily labor: Over and over again, among the Minimites or here in our new home, I have learned the same lesson. Primitive technologies are often better suited to the task than more advanced ones. In a world of organic beings and relationships, machines can act as a wrench. It often makes no sense to save labor and time when “labor” provides needed exercise and “time” is spent with family or neighbors.

Having said that, I have occasionally found a use for power devices. When I worked at finishing our basement, I mostly wielded a hand drill for drilling or screwing. I liked the opportunity to flex my muscles. I preferred the quiet cranking sound to the scream of the power tool. And I avoided drilling