"trailing edge technologies"
Jul. 10th, 2008 02:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelidonReally well-put thoughts on technology, complexity, and energy use here:
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2008/07/trailing-edge-technologies.html
For a good while now, "progress" meant making things that do more, but are more complex to produce and maintain, and which in general use more energy than the things they replace, to manufacture, to operate and to repair (to the point where it's far cheaper in many cases to replace most things than to fix them).
Truly, we are all going to have to learn to do more with less, and with less complex and energy-intensive products. By various measures, we all (in modern industrialized countries) have, in terms of our energy use, a stable of between 100 and 200 slaves constantly working for us, night and day, 24/7/365, in order to sustain the lifestyle we now know. Roads, streetlights, air conditioning, on and on....rich or poor, we are all living on top of that huge base of "energy slaves."
As energy gets more and more expensive, the amount of free or very cheap energy available per person will decrease, and everything, from food to gas, to manufacturing and transporting *anything* (including, I note, all those alternative energy technologies like solar panels), will get more and more expensive in real terms. While there will be specific exceptions due to scientific breakthroughs, due to material and energy costs, chances are, in general, things will never be cheaper than they are today, and that's a BIG change to one of the basic assumptions our society is built upon. Stuff that's simple to make, can be produced near where it is used/consumed, and which lasts a long time and is simple to fix, will very likely become the new gold standard for "progress."
I have an antique Singer treadle sewing machine, a gift from a dear old friend who is a sewer. The base is currently serving as a table in our living room, but it still works, and I still have the rest of the machine, which needs a little mechanical work, but should be fixable. Besides being one of the best things ever for sewing leather, thick canvas, etc, it's capable, but relatively simple, and I figure it may well come in handy somewhere down the line.
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2008/07/trailing-edge-technologies.html
For a good while now, "progress" meant making things that do more, but are more complex to produce and maintain, and which in general use more energy than the things they replace, to manufacture, to operate and to repair (to the point where it's far cheaper in many cases to replace most things than to fix them).
Truly, we are all going to have to learn to do more with less, and with less complex and energy-intensive products. By various measures, we all (in modern industrialized countries) have, in terms of our energy use, a stable of between 100 and 200 slaves constantly working for us, night and day, 24/7/365, in order to sustain the lifestyle we now know. Roads, streetlights, air conditioning, on and on....rich or poor, we are all living on top of that huge base of "energy slaves."
As energy gets more and more expensive, the amount of free or very cheap energy available per person will decrease, and everything, from food to gas, to manufacturing and transporting *anything* (including, I note, all those alternative energy technologies like solar panels), will get more and more expensive in real terms. While there will be specific exceptions due to scientific breakthroughs, due to material and energy costs, chances are, in general, things will never be cheaper than they are today, and that's a BIG change to one of the basic assumptions our society is built upon. Stuff that's simple to make, can be produced near where it is used/consumed, and which lasts a long time and is simple to fix, will very likely become the new gold standard for "progress."
I have an antique Singer treadle sewing machine, a gift from a dear old friend who is a sewer. The base is currently serving as a table in our living room, but it still works, and I still have the rest of the machine, which needs a little mechanical work, but should be fixable. Besides being one of the best things ever for sewing leather, thick canvas, etc, it's capable, but relatively simple, and I figure it may well come in handy somewhere down the line.
