Luxury as Slavery
Apr. 15th, 2021 03:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithHere is an excellent article about luxury as slavery. I am delighted to see someone else drawing parallels between the Roman Empire and modern life.
The Roman writer, Tacitus, argued that the Roman Empire was built by enslaving conquered people who became accustomed to fine living and luxury.
Technology today has become so essential to our daily lives that it seems impossible to break free of it. It's as much a cage as a luxury.
Being dependent on a thing gives it power over you. To need something or someone is, for better or worse, to limit yourself.
These things are true, but incomplete. People do live without modern luxuries.
We have an Amish community not far north of us, and rely on them for many necessities not always available in modern stores. Things that don't need power to run, practical things, natural alternatives to synthetics, etc. From them I learned the most essential rule for assessing technology: "Before adopting a new piece of technology, first determine whether it will do more harm than good. If so, do not adopt it." I draw the line in a different place than they do, but I use the same rule. It sets me aside from mainstream society, but well, so do most of my traits and practices.
Further examples include ecovillages, various other intentional communities, homesteaders, and hermits.
It is up to each person to determine whether the benefits of a given item or service outweigh its risks and costs, insofar as you have the power to decide what happens. Remember to compare actual options in reach, not what you wish to have or should have.
For anyone wishing to reduce their dependence on modern technology, I offer:
Foundation for Intentional Community
How to Start a Homestead
Useful Things to Build
100 Home Repairs
Arts and Crafts
Survival Skills
Try a Tech Diet
5:2 Digital Diet
Every thing you learn to do or make for yourself -- or do without -- is one less piece of leverage people can use to manipulate you. Give yourself choices.
The Roman writer, Tacitus, argued that the Roman Empire was built by enslaving conquered people who became accustomed to fine living and luxury.
Technology today has become so essential to our daily lives that it seems impossible to break free of it. It's as much a cage as a luxury.
Being dependent on a thing gives it power over you. To need something or someone is, for better or worse, to limit yourself.
These things are true, but incomplete. People do live without modern luxuries.
We have an Amish community not far north of us, and rely on them for many necessities not always available in modern stores. Things that don't need power to run, practical things, natural alternatives to synthetics, etc. From them I learned the most essential rule for assessing technology: "Before adopting a new piece of technology, first determine whether it will do more harm than good. If so, do not adopt it." I draw the line in a different place than they do, but I use the same rule. It sets me aside from mainstream society, but well, so do most of my traits and practices.
Further examples include ecovillages, various other intentional communities, homesteaders, and hermits.
It is up to each person to determine whether the benefits of a given item or service outweigh its risks and costs, insofar as you have the power to decide what happens. Remember to compare actual options in reach, not what you wish to have or should have.
For anyone wishing to reduce their dependence on modern technology, I offer:
Foundation for Intentional Community
How to Start a Homestead
Useful Things to Build
100 Home Repairs
Arts and Crafts
Survival Skills
Try a Tech Diet
5:2 Digital Diet
Every thing you learn to do or make for yourself -- or do without -- is one less piece of leverage people can use to manipulate you. Give yourself choices.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-04-16 12:12 am (UTC)And as a society, we've not even recognized this as an issue yet. As opposed to say diet culture/eating disorders.
And yes, people have died from overuse of tech - texting while driving, playing games for days on end, etc.
Thoughts
Date: 2021-04-16 01:21 am (UTC)While modern tech -- and also modern chow -- are designed to be addicted, it is an exaggeration to say that you can't leave. Drug propaganda from the "just say no" shit trains people to believe they are helpless. Society does make it difficult to leave. But it is still possible, and far easier to quit one or a few of the most egregious offenders than to dispense with all of them.
>> And as a society, we've not even recognized this as an issue yet. <<
Tech addiction is known and there are people who purport to treat it. However, it's often poorly defined and handled. What isn't happening is that nobody is forbidding corporations to make dangerous, addictive products. Since addictive products tend to be more lucrative than nonaddictive ones, the market drives the problem.
>> As opposed to say diet culture/eating disorders. <<
Yeah, I think diets have done more to make people fatter than even the corporations making addictive chow. That ratchet is deadly. Starving yourself, which is what most diets amount to, is a disaster.
If you want to change your diet, you are much better off making small, sustainable changes -- like switching from refined to whole grains, or some meatless days, or trading sodas for produce smoothies. Another good approach is to "date" different physical activities until you find one you like enough to go steady. A hobby like hiking, dancing, or tennis will help burn calories. These approaches are not just healthy, they are fun. We've had a blast learning how to make smoothies and use a wok.
>> And yes, people have died from overuse of tech - texting while driving, playing games for days on end, etc. <<
Not to mention the ones who fall down manholes or stumble into traffic while staring at their phones.
*shrug* Darwin Award.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-04-16 01:56 am (UTC)It depends. I know someone who needs a smartphone app to order medical supplies, and I don't think there is a low-tech alternative.
Many people need cars to get around, even if you don't like them or don't want one. (I wouldn't have gotten a license if out public transport wasn't so terrible.)
Many job applications are only online, and many jobs expect or outright require the use of various tech (a cell phone, for example).
And people no longer make many alternatives avalible, like payphones or phone books.
I think it's like saying you can leave an abusive situation - many people can walk out the door whenever, but some of them will have a percieved lower quality of life afterwards. And some people will choose to stay to get their meds, or protect someone, or whatever.
And working outside the system can be very difficult and stressful.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-04-16 03:06 am (UTC)Your comparison to abuse is apt. America is like the shitty boyfriend who smacks you around and blows the rent money on booze and whores. Are you willing to be cheated and beaten for the sake of a roof over your head, or would you prefer to live (and possibly die) free? Can you make a livable life with less tech? Is your life with tech actually livable? These answers will vary from person to person.
Me, I am fed up with society, and not just because of the tech. I don't want to be with those people. I have dumped companies because they mistreated me. I am increasingly looking at society and thinking for each interaction, "Is what I'm getting out of this worth the aggravating of being molested by assholes?" The answer is increasingly no. As for healthcare, they've done a bang-up job of unselling me on things unless my body is making me downright miserable.
YMMV.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-04-16 03:57 am (UTC)Yes, this what I was trying to say. It is doable. There are risks and costs. The risks and costs will be different for different people, as will the cost-benefit analysis.
>>America is like the shitty boyfriend who smacks you around and blows the rent money on booze and whores. Are you willing to be cheated and beaten for the sake of a roof over your head, or would you prefer to live (and possibly die) free?<<
With this analogy, I wonder how American government/culture would match up against other governments/cultures. (It is worth noting that many of the more positive social interactions I have had with people are with recent immigrants, though I cant tell if it is because of culture, because we are being careful re: cross cultural communication, because they really don't want to upset me bc I might leave, or something else.)