Artists and the Amish Hacker

The Amish aren't as anti-technology as you'd think. They'll use gas engines to cut blocks of ice for their non-electric refrigerators, and they'll buy half-millon dollar CNC machines to manufacture tools that run on compressed air so that farmers don't have to use electricity. Check out this article for more unexpected amish tales.

One of the main points raised by the article is that the Amish are a great example of the DIY and Maker cultures that are getting oh so popular lately. The author and other bloggers really admire the amish for their approach to community-sustanence and off-the-grid living.

Indeed, young urbanites seem to be on a path of convergence with the amish; just look into stories about urban foraging, or running a self-sustaining farm in a brooklyn backyard. And just look at Steampunk!

This got me thinking about how future generations are going to adapt to technology. Already I've been noticing a strong anti-technology trend amongst some of my friends, a trend that baffles older generations who expect us youngins to have our laptops and iPhones genetically morphed unto our bodies at all times.

For instance, my recent alma mater, SAIC, forces all students to buy a subsidized MacBook Pro when they enroll at the school. On a study trip last summer, a lot of the students, myself included, chose to leave our laptops at home for the six week trip. We needed the time away from the internet and its distractions, while our professors were shocked that we made this choice voluntarily.

There's this idea that we're becoming ever more dependent on technology, the youth in particular, that we're heading towards the technological singularity. Yet somehow most of the people I know and see on a daily basis are moving in the opposite direction. Most of the people I know don't own a TV, and most of the people I know don't own a car. Indeed, most of the people I know don't constitute a fair slice of American culture, but they do make up what I consider to be part of the trend-setting culture of America.

A lot has been said about artists and their role as cultural path-breakers, and a lot of it's probably bullshit, but there's some truth in there. Look at gentrification. Look at style, look at music. If artist isn't the best descriptor, then lets just settle on young, creative types. These young, creative types aren't rushing to embrace the latest gadget, and they might love myspace but admitting to that is a big no-no these days. And at this point, I bet few of my peers do actually love myspace or facebook. Most seem to hate them and many have abandoned the sites all together.

The trends I'm noticing might also rise from the fact that twenty-somethings like myself are already behind the curve. Maybe we're shunning technology because we can't keep up. One side effect of exponential technology advancements will be that generation gaps widen and become more apparent at smaller increments. For instance, facebook debuted when I was a freshman in college, so it never played a role in my high school social life; neither did text messaging. Hence I've already noticed something akin to a generation gap between myself and kids just two years younger than me in the way they use technology. It scares me. And this process can only increase in the future.

Thus it seems possible that a new subculture is looming, one that takes off-the-grid to it's extreme, a new back to nature movement like the hippies had perhaps. The growth of the Evangelical movement and religious fundamentalism in America could also be exemplary of just such a backlash.

Do I think we'll really all move to the woods? probably not, although I'm hopeful. Do I think we wont be so quick to adapt to new technology as 'adults' think? It'll at least be grudgingly so, kinda like the amish.