Creative? I feel pretty creative. Would I be more or less creative in the 18th Century? Some things would take me longer to do, so I might get to accomplish less. My standard of living is higher, so I can afford more free time towards art than towards … milking cows?

The flip side of that is that I do feel automation and mechanization has diminished our appreciation of craft. Most things are a commodity now, a table is a table is a table, and selection is made by style, yes, but mainly by price. There’s not a big market for one-man-shop-produced goods.

I did read a very interesting book recently called “Better Off,” which was about an MIT (Mass. Institute of TECHNOLOGY) grad who spent more than a year living with an Amish-type settlement. His starting premise was that we might be better off without technology, and then set out to prove/disprove this premise based on a year of this lifestyle.

What he concluded was that the “Minimites,” as he called them, were selective in their use of technology. Before adopting a technology (a washing machine, for example), they considered its merits and detracting features. It was good in that it saved some labor in washing clothes, and didn’t require supervision. On the negative side, it required an energy source (itself requiring money for installation, upkeep, refills, etc), cost of the new equipment and didn’t really save much time at all. Turns out the mechanical wringing apparatus did as good or better job and had the benefit of some good exercise. It was also gentler on the clothes.

Could we all use a little less technology? Perhaps a more thorough examination of its neccessity - I’ve had a Palm Pilot twice and both times sold it almost immediately - my system of carrying Post-It notes and/or writing on my hand has carried me through a long ways, and that’s one less thing to carry/worry about.