February 23, 2009

Everything is AMAZING, and nobody is happy...


I'm a bit of a Luddite (he said on his internet blog), so this hit a soft spot with me.

11 comments:

  1. You're a bit of a Luddite? What do you mean by that?

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  2. From Wikipedia:

    "The Luddites were a social movement of British textile artisans in the early nineteenth century who protested—often by destroying mechanized looms—against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which they felt were leaving them without work.

    This English historical movement has to be seen in its context of the harsh economic climate due to the Napoleonic Wars, and the degrading working conditions in the new textile factories; but since then, the term Luddite has been used derisively to describe anyone opposed to technological progress and technological change.

    The Luddite movement, which began in 1811, took its name from the fictive Ned Ludd. For a short time the movement was so strong that it clashed in battles with the British Army. Measures taken by the government included a mass trial at York in 1812 that resulted in many executions and penal transportation.

    The principal objection of the Luddites was against the introduction of new wide-framed automated looms that could be operated by cheap, relatively unskilled labour, resulting in the loss of jobs for many skilled textile workers."

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  3. Yeah...I knew what a Luddite is. I didn't figure you would Luddite since you use a computer. I'm also aware the left used to predominantly be Luddites. Personally, I find them to be misguided (and certainly nowadays misguided).

    So how do you consider yourself a Luddite?

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  4. People are less happy because while technology advances, the ready access to technology is further lost from the public, due to corporations and the governments they control holding a tighter grip on their means of creation.

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  5. Good point there Derry, which is one of the reasons why I´m very supportive of Open Source movements. Let´s claim the means of production this time ;).

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  6. I consider myself to be a Luddite in that I value simplicity in living, and don't necessarily embrace new things just because they are new.

    Yes, I use a computer.

    I also grow a significant portion of my own food, repair clothes that are torn or worn rather than toss them out, and prefer handwritten letters over email.

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  7. When life was more "simple" (it wasn't exactly simple back in the day as it was the modern way of life) back in the "good ol' days" it was a life of much greater hardships, of disease, of harder, more useless work and overall crappy existence. But that really isn't in the good ol' days, as that style life still exist in much of the world.

    Also, growing your own food is nice and all, but I would assume agricultural technology makes it easier to grow that food, so I don't see where Luddism comes into play here.

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  8. Actually no.

    I don't use any technology to grow food that's more modern than 500BC.

    Just, rain, compost, smart use of what nature already does well on it's own, and a little bit of physical labor when it's needed.

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  9. Uh..yeah, and you just found wild fruit and vegetables and livestock hanging around, and use tools created in the same methods as "500BC" and use the same exact techniques, and work with the same availability. Lulz at the wannabe simple people. The only people close to that are starving peasants in Africa.

    Why did it take you weeks to make such a simple response like that? Lulz.

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  10. Yeah. I harvest the seeds from previous crops, and from seeded fruits I've purchased at the grocery store, or cultivated plants from local farms and neighbors.

    I've only had to buy watermelon, potatoes, beans, spinach, or pumpkins once. The crops we have now are fifth or sixth generation.

    I don't keep any livestock. I only grow vegetables.

    It took me weeks because I do things in life other than check my blog for comments.

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  11. Well, a simple comment you'd think wouldn't take long. But whatever.

    No livestock? Why just vegetables? That must get tasteless and boring fast.

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