Rinchen forwards Jerry Mander’s Aphorisms, a set of succinct provocations engaged against technology worship.
0. Since most of what we are told about new technology comes from its proponents, be deeply skeptical of all claims.
and:
8. Do not accept the homily that “once the genie is out of the bottle, you cannot put it back”, or that rejecting technology is impossible. Such attitudes induce passivity and confirm victimization.
Bruce Sterling writes for MIT’s Enterprise Technology Review, Ten Technologies That Deserve to Die. Some items on his list, such as the internal combustion engine and land mines, are not surprising. His inclusion of prisons and DVDs on the list is more provocative.
I was discussing the Bruce Sterling list here: http://www.iotacism.com/guestbook/guestbook.php
(skip back to MJH’s post from 01.10.2003 04:10 for the start of the interesting stuff) – decided that manned space-flight can be fun, especially if you look at alternative power-sources such as purity, pornography or maggot-filled kebabs.
The aphorisms remind me of some of Wendell Berry’s rules for a local economy:
http://www.globalideasbank.org/BI/BI-123.HTML