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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> > Let the first true Luddite step forward and announce themself.
>
> Me.  So long as we understand what a Luddite is.

I should have used the lowercase luddite. Seems to me that Ned and  
his boys were aroused by the damage to their pay rather than the  
various other ramifications of technology. Quite understandable.

A common understanding of luddite is one who is opposed to increased  
industrialization. Here we have added technology in general. To many,  
technology is synonymous with progress, the condition of increasing  
human quality of life. Each of we sovereign beings may apply our  
criteria to quality of life. We are uniquely conditioned by self- 
image, learned values and personal experiences. Not surprising that  
we find disparate answers.

As for our judgmentalism, our compulsion to measure others by our  
standards, I am reminded of the various religious beliefs. The  
commonality seems to me to be the need for affirmation and  
reinforcement. Again, quite understandable. None of us is certain of  
hardly anything but the cliche of death and taxes.

> Let me take a guess, Gene.  Just a guess, but probably not  
> unfounded.  In
> your kitchen do you have a set of really good knives or rather do  
> you have a
> counter full of electric kitchen gadgets?   Or if you have both,  
> when it comes
> time to make one of those legendary pizzas, do you reach for very good
> serviceable knife or do you run the pepperoni and tomatoes through  
> the Kitchenaide?

I mostly use an eight-inch cleaver that I bought about forty years  
ago in San Francisco. I rarely peel veggies or fruits, but I do have  
a small paring knife for that task. I occasionally use a chef's  
knife. The cleaver chops, slices, dices, and then carries the chunks  
from handmade cutting block to the technologically-advanced and  
industrially-produced pan. (I have cast iron cookware but don't like  
using it.)

We have made pesto by hand, with mortar and pestle or mincing the  
basil and garlic with the cleaver, but prefer that made with a  
blender. Offhand I can't think of any other use of the blender. Oh,  
there is one "kitchen gadget" we use a lot, a Victorio Strainer, for  
processing tomatoes for sauce. And of course we use our motor-powered  
grain grinder for converting wheat berries into flour. The motor is  
recycled from a long-dead clothes dryer. The grinder has a handle in  
case of electric outage. My shoulder doesn't like that operation.

The technology I use is selective. I have a hand brace and bits but  
almost always reach for the electric drill. For a project today I  
will mix concrete by hand but for large batches I use an electric  
motor-powered mixer. My selection often is referenced by time rather  
than effort, but effort is increasingly part of the decision. With  
increasing age, not only does the body speak for change, but the mind  
inexorably notes diminishing remaining time. My passion is designing  
and building, an expensive hobby, which is the answer to why I still  
want more money. But time is the keen edge of it. So technology will  
be used whenever I decide that the tradeoffs compute.