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  • From: KNat <knat AT sprintmail.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Technology
  • Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2006 11:14:46 -0600

VAN DELL JORDAN wrote:
> 2) Has technology made us any happier?
Technology has the potential to make life more
comfortable and more secure, these can contribute to
happiness.
Technology can move where the resources come from but that is only more comfortable for some. It moves who is comfortable. I think happiness comes from contentment with ones place within the balance. That includes a place within the whole cost of a lifestyle. It is not the technology that is a "problem" but that it does not come with full disclosure of what went into it.
My steel knives may make me more physically comfortable because I don't have to nap or interact with someone who does (I happen to live where appropriate stones are plentiful, this is where trade for such began in aboriginal cultures, so locating materials is not in my direct paradigm.) People, and other beings, in the places the resources for my knife came from may be experiencing more discomfort than I have gained. My happiness is how I feel about my whole being. My knife includes the land the metal is extracted from and the impact of the extraction/processing/distribution on all parties including other humans in the process. I think some people feel the impact of a gizmo differently because they sense the ripple they've made to have it. Using an item that took 8-10 acres of resources, 10-12 human labor days, 15 barrels oil, 6-8 years of environmental regeneration, to acquire can be a happy thing or a sad thing. If we could just speak of full cost we would have a different, and maybe more meaningful, conversation than technology good/bad. Happiness would fit in that discussion well.

Kathyann




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