A beloved brother in Christ asked me this question on my recent video:
What do you mean when you say you're "anti-technology"???
I want to start out by listing just a few of the resources that have inspired me in this area over the past several years:
Surviving Off Off-Grid: Decolonizing the Industrial Mind by Michael Bunker
North Country Farmer; a Christian Agrarian website hosted by Scott M Terry
The Biblical Basis for Christian Agrarianism by Howard King - Audio Sermon
The Village vs The City by Howard King - Audio Sermon
(Both sermons are on the same page.)
Henry and the Great Society by H.L. Roush
(This is a PDF version of the book, but you can buy a hard copy of it from many different online sources. The ending is not good, but the main principles taught throughout the book are very good.)
Yes, I Am Anti-Technology
When I say I am "Anti-Technology" I am half joking, but it is yet based on the truth of what I believe. I don't believe we should embrace technology just to embrace technology. I believe there is plenty of technology that might make things more convenient or easier, that should be rejected. An extreme example would be, if there were a technology that could track all of your thoughts. The reasoning behind such a technology, like with most technology that intrudes on liberty, would be that it prevents crime, or that it would help solve crime. In other words, increased technology, like most oppressive laws, are based on "safety" or some form of supposed societal good. Although it might be true that it could "help" in those ways, I am against such technology because that technology is not worthy enough to lose our freedoms over. I use this same reasoning as my basis to be against technology on less extreme things (even though they are not actually much "less extreme" when you really consider it). Is it worth it for our societies to have conveniences like automobiles, factories, the electrical grid system, air travel, cellular phones/mobile devices, etc., etc.? I would raise an argument that more evil has come from these things, than good. I believe that we lose more than we gain.
Biblical Christianity vs Christian Humanism
In a God-centered society, the Death Penalty is used "to put away the evil". The glory of God is of highest value. Not only this, but it can be argued that God still yet places high value on human life; when a murderer is put to death, society is spared from further evil (in the form of murder). I argue the same points for being "anti-technology".
Will some forms of technology save certain individual lives? Certainly. But is that more important than being able to have a society that glorifies God, and that has liberty? The humanist thinks so; because human life trumps the glory of God. Furthermore, I would argue that such technology actually produces much death. Sure, you can rush your child to the hospital in an ambulance and save his life due to the automobile. But how many people are killed in car accidents every year? But even if this were not so, I would still choose against having that technology due to the former points. I would argue this on most things that have come from the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution is from the pit of hell, in the fruit it has borne.
So I am not actually against technology. A hammer is technology. So is a screwdriver. And a rake. And a shovel. I appreciate these forms of technology. But I do not appreciate drones, or security cameras, or metal detectors, or naked body scanners, and anything that is oppressive in of itself, or that can lead to oppression. I do not endorse technology that causes the family to scatter, the community to be broken up, and that induces individualism (rather than community living). This is all part of my belief in Kinism.
If we go back to the local community, using God's natural means to live our lives (rather than worshiping self and what we can do), living off the land, using what he has provided (animals rather than machines is just one example), then Kinism is the natural result. This is why Kinists are wasting their time if all they do is pursue intellectual/doctrinal/political matters. We need to get practical first, and above all. The other things have their place, but the practical is where the meat is. And the chief of practical living is that every detail of all our actions are measured carefully by the word of God, and we honor Christ above all else. May we all seek to do this, and repent if we are not currently so doing.
I am just scratching the surface on this all. I have not even touched on several things: How certain technologies have caused us to lose many of our jobs; what is the result? The corporate masters get more rich, thereby oppressing us more. We have millions of people without jobs that otherwise would have. Multiply this with the abuse that corporations have done to the earth (and no, I am not an earth worshiper, but we are still responsible to be good stewards). Add to that, how that our health has deteriorated due to our lack of physical activity.
We once were a strong people of courage and bravery, and were robust, tough and gritty. Now we are a bunch of pacified sissies who don't know how to fix anything, and don't know how to do anything. If the grid of electric and of "Just in Time" goods were to fail tomorrow, probably 90% or more of people would die because they have no clue how to live independent of it.
Our DNA is being genetically altered by radio, internet, microwave, electric frequencies. The list can go on and on. I would keep going but I hope we all get the point now. I am Anti-Technology, and that for good reason. At least, according to this crazy blog writer, I am.
Swiss Kinist
A More Refined Definition
Do I still use these technologies? Yes. There isn't really any escaping it. But if/when new communities are built, when the current economic system collapses (it is not a matter of if, but when), and if I am a leader of a community, or have any authority, I am going to push for our societies to have as little of this as possible. I don't have all the details figured out. And I don't believe using the technology is evil in of itself. But I think the world would be better off for the glory of God if it didn't have certain forms of technology. So I am not actually against technology. A hammer is technology. So is a screwdriver. And a rake. And a shovel. I appreciate these forms of technology. But I do not appreciate drones, or security cameras, or metal detectors, or naked body scanners, and anything that is oppressive in of itself, or that can lead to oppression. I do not endorse technology that causes the family to scatter, the community to be broken up, and that induces individualism (rather than community living). This is all part of my belief in Kinism.
If we go back to the local community, using God's natural means to live our lives (rather than worshiping self and what we can do), living off the land, using what he has provided (animals rather than machines is just one example), then Kinism is the natural result. This is why Kinists are wasting their time if all they do is pursue intellectual/doctrinal/political matters. We need to get practical first, and above all. The other things have their place, but the practical is where the meat is. And the chief of practical living is that every detail of all our actions are measured carefully by the word of God, and we honor Christ above all else. May we all seek to do this, and repent if we are not currently so doing.
I am just scratching the surface on this all. I have not even touched on several things: How certain technologies have caused us to lose many of our jobs; what is the result? The corporate masters get more rich, thereby oppressing us more. We have millions of people without jobs that otherwise would have. Multiply this with the abuse that corporations have done to the earth (and no, I am not an earth worshiper, but we are still responsible to be good stewards). Add to that, how that our health has deteriorated due to our lack of physical activity.
We once were a strong people of courage and bravery, and were robust, tough and gritty. Now we are a bunch of pacified sissies who don't know how to fix anything, and don't know how to do anything. If the grid of electric and of "Just in Time" goods were to fail tomorrow, probably 90% or more of people would die because they have no clue how to live independent of it.
Our DNA is being genetically altered by radio, internet, microwave, electric frequencies. The list can go on and on. I would keep going but I hope we all get the point now. I am Anti-Technology, and that for good reason. At least, according to this crazy blog writer, I am.
Swiss Kinist
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