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[KNat <knat AT sprintmail.com>]

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