Yes we are thanks, very much looking forward to experiencing our first spring in our new surroundings!
From what I can gather, he seems to draw a line (with a few modest exceptions*) at technologies that could be produced within constraints of social complexity achieved by a small medieval settlement**. Adopting certain modern conveniences means accepting the creeping dependence on centralised, hyper-specialised social structures. Part of the charm of Boyle's lifestyle, at least for me, for the most part he uses tools and materials that any human could learn how to produce themselves using only the resources of the landscape around them, of course it helps when trial and error is removed from the equation and that knowledge is passed down through generations. No one can expect to go out into this alone with no experience and come out the other side alive, and so a certain amount of hypocrisy is to be expected.
Washing machines and landline telephone communication systems could not really be achieved without dependence on motors and electric generation, that puts these tools out of reach of our indigenous Celtic predecessors. I wager that most of our more advanced technologies could never have been achieved if it were not for the time freed up and the resources available to the financially independent (enjoyed in part by socially unjust levels of wealth inequality brought about by hyper specialization and land enclosure.) It's not to belittle, or criticize, just pointing out a common theme. It's no coincidence that great discoveries, inventions and philosophies tended be achieved by individuals belonging to the wealthiest of social castes. It's much easier to work on these projects when you have significant resources to hand and don't have to worry about basic subsistence. Although a lack of free time admittedly is really a problem of settled societies, suffering from many self induced progress traps and
intermediate economies (see Lean Logic entry,
or story of pots). We can see Boyle has a great deal of free time on his hands, so the celts must have got some things right.
Eliminating and finding ways to live without these technologies in some ways becomes as much about social justice as it does for causes such as averting personal contribution to catastrophic global warming. I mentioned Boyle's bookshelf in my last post, did you spot John Zerzan's 'Against Civilization'? Zerzan has quite radical views on technology, domestication, hyper-specialisation and hierarchy in human society, but at it's core is an understanding beyond a certain threshold, technology that requires specialized knowledge is a driver of social inequality, and leads to domination of people, the landscape and other lifeforms. I think Zerzan's ideas go a long way into describing the roots of our dominant culture's problems. If you've not read any of Zerzan's work, I strongly recommend Against Civilization as a starting point, perhaps it will help you understand Boyle's reasoning for picking and choosing technologies a little better. Of course, Boyle doesn't go as far as Zerzan advocates, but then again, nor does Zerzan, as only a certain amount of independence from the system can be achieved unless society goes along with it also. No man can be and island, etc etc.
*I noticed flannel shirts, jeans, various bottles of booze, printing pressed books, pencils, glass windows, industrially farmed and milled flour. I think these concessions are reasonable, he mentions his 30 year plan is to eventually eliminate many these 'hypocritical' wants, it's not exactly fair to judge him on this, because as I mentioned, society has to go with us, and townsfolk have largely lost the skills that met these needs before. It's not like any of us here have been taught as children how to produce vellum, or write with a quill and ink. It does not makes sense either to want to unlearn germ theory, or remove the benefit of a little natural light from one's shelter, so some 'technologies' or knowledge should rightly stay, as they can be practiced on a modest scale, until such a time that local competence is restored.
**Medival societies incidentally never overshot their ecosystems (at least to the magnitude of the Mayans, Romans and modern Westerners). For all their faults, they rarely left a mark on the earth, and they never turned the dial on CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. It's part of the reason we know so little about them, the majority of what they used or owned was organic and has now mostly rotted away. There were no nuclear waste, landfill sites or plastic pollution problems.
, I guess I rushed my thoughts through a little, but yeah, that's a fair assessment, the the iron stove is clearly much later than medieval. Doh.
