I’m a little bit bothered by technology. Over in my alternative reality on Substack, where I’m known to occasionally act like a serious grown-up thinker, I have a lot to say about AI and related technologies.
This stuff goes way beyond cute chat-bots helping college kids and internet marketers plagiarize writing. If you had any idea what was going on in neuroscience and biotech along with AI, you’d be burning down your local power plant before heading off on your own Ted Kaczynski adventure deep in the woods.
This stuff is a problem, to be sledgehammer-blunt about it.
Nerds are in heaven, and that should be your first red flag.
Then there’s the inevitable counter-movement. We got sold on all this intelligent machinery, telling us our lives would get more convenient, but it seems like the machines are gunning for all the warm, fun, interesting stuff and leaving the ditch-digging to humans.
In that kind of environment, little wonder Amish is the new hotness:
This movement argues for a deliberate halt in technological progress beyond a specific point to ensure the preservation of core human values and prevent potential societal upheaval. The Neo-Amish movement encourages critical evaluation and resistance against technologies perceived as encroaching upon fundamental aspects of human experience, autonomy, and privacy.
The Amish are misunderstood as flat-out anti-technology. That’s a misrepresentation. The Amish are highly discriminating in their choice of technologies. They decide on a case-by-case basis whether a new widget will help or harm.
I look around and can’t help but agree.
Technology is a good and necessary thing. Humans can’t live on instinct like other animals. We’ve been artificial since we learned to speak and make fire.
That doesn’t mean tech is good for tech’s sake. An endless explosion of widgets is great and all, until you find yourself hurling through the universe in a metal cube at warp-speed, shooting lasers at Patrick Stewart.
True nerds will appreciate this reference.
There’s always going to be a place for human connection, human meaning, and human contributions, no matter how tempting the call of the shiny toys.
I’m here to support the human element in any and every way that I can. That starts with a healthy, active, vital body. But that’s only the beginning. The ground floor of the skyscraper that is human health and flourishing.
If that’s up your alley, maybe you can click here.
Matt Perryman