11th
Amish-Style Technology
An interesting description of the Amish’s view of technology reminds me of a high school summer job I had working at a restaurant that served “Amish-style” food. The restaurant had almost nothing to do with being Amish, but there was one delivery guy who seemed Amish. Anyway, it looks like the Amish are leap-frogging the “rest of us” by using some high-tech equipment in order to preserve their way of life. They plant genetically modified crops. They use complex pneumatic equipment instead of electricity (driven by diesel air compressors). To me, it seems like the Amish are just waiting for technology to be “good enough” to serve their needs — while the rest of modern society (foolishly?) accepts “progress” as it comes. Perhaps being partially Amish is a good thing… and leads to successses like Apple’s iPhone which wasn’t the first to market but is probably the “best” to market so far.
