I don't think so, Hermit. There is a lot of gray there. It is not a binary choice. Look at Paul and his friend Mark Boyle. Paul has one foot in one world, at least partially and one foot in his family's holding. He can use a scythe as well as a keyboard. Mark is a special case who has chosen to try to live without the encumbrances of the…
I don't think so, Hermit. There is a lot of gray there. It is not a binary choice. Look at Paul and his friend Mark Boyle. Paul has one foot in one world, at least partially and one foot in his family's holding. He can use a scythe as well as a keyboard. Mark is a special case who has chosen to try to live without the encumbrances of the machine. His book "the way home" reminds me of Thoreau and tells in vivid detail what it is like to live outside the machine. If you want an inkling of what the future might look like for many of us, check in with Mark.
I really do hope you are right and I am wrong in this. It does seem to be bearing down on us fairly quickly. At times--now, for instance--it seems hard for me to see a way out. I appreciate your challenge to think more broadly and deeply about this. The gray areas...
I hope there is a lot of gray area in this. The less dependent on the machine, tucked away in some lonely corner, maybe the better off one could be. I am in the middle of it. I am completely dependent on it. Even the people who see what is coming, don't want to get out, even if they could.
If I had a few stalwart friends, I would gladly find someplace on the fringe and hope for the best. I don't believe in survival at all costs, but I don't want to live a meaningless life of consumption and distraction either--and be socially controlled by sociopaths. Rather the pursuit of purity of heart in silence and simplicity in a small community, even if difficult, would be my choice.
Interesting conversation, both. I have to say, I think that times are going to force our hands.
I have indeed lived with one foot in each camp, so to speak. Mark wouldn't mind me saying (he's written about it himself) that one difference between us is that I have a family and that he (through choice) doesn't. It is easier to live outside the Machine if you don't have children to raise. We have raised ours in the country, homeschooling them, and there is still no escape from electricity, the Internet and car ownership, even as we try to minimise it.
But I have a feeling that a time is approaching where it is going to be made very much harder to maintain the grey zone. How much longer will I be permitted to live without a smartphone, a credit card and a vaccine pass? I don't know. I think a time may come when we have to make a choice. Until then, as Hermit says, taking some kind of Benedict Option will not happen for many, because we are comfortable enough. When enough of us are driven to it, I think then things will begin to change. For some that is already happening.
I don't think so, Hermit. There is a lot of gray there. It is not a binary choice. Look at Paul and his friend Mark Boyle. Paul has one foot in one world, at least partially and one foot in his family's holding. He can use a scythe as well as a keyboard. Mark is a special case who has chosen to try to live without the encumbrances of the machine. His book "the way home" reminds me of Thoreau and tells in vivid detail what it is like to live outside the machine. If you want an inkling of what the future might look like for many of us, check in with Mark.
I really do hope you are right and I am wrong in this. It does seem to be bearing down on us fairly quickly. At times--now, for instance--it seems hard for me to see a way out. I appreciate your challenge to think more broadly and deeply about this. The gray areas...
I hope there is a lot of gray area in this. The less dependent on the machine, tucked away in some lonely corner, maybe the better off one could be. I am in the middle of it. I am completely dependent on it. Even the people who see what is coming, don't want to get out, even if they could.
If I had a few stalwart friends, I would gladly find someplace on the fringe and hope for the best. I don't believe in survival at all costs, but I don't want to live a meaningless life of consumption and distraction either--and be socially controlled by sociopaths. Rather the pursuit of purity of heart in silence and simplicity in a small community, even if difficult, would be my choice.
Interesting conversation, both. I have to say, I think that times are going to force our hands.
I have indeed lived with one foot in each camp, so to speak. Mark wouldn't mind me saying (he's written about it himself) that one difference between us is that I have a family and that he (through choice) doesn't. It is easier to live outside the Machine if you don't have children to raise. We have raised ours in the country, homeschooling them, and there is still no escape from electricity, the Internet and car ownership, even as we try to minimise it.
But I have a feeling that a time is approaching where it is going to be made very much harder to maintain the grey zone. How much longer will I be permitted to live without a smartphone, a credit card and a vaccine pass? I don't know. I think a time may come when we have to make a choice. Until then, as Hermit says, taking some kind of Benedict Option will not happen for many, because we are comfortable enough. When enough of us are driven to it, I think then things will begin to change. For some that is already happening.