amish hackers

[jrtom]

http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2009/02/amish_hackers_a.php

In which it is revealed that the Amish attitudes towards technology are considerably more complex and varied than I'd been aware of.

(The whole pneumatic technology thing almost-but-not-quite gives a whole new meaning to "steampunk". :))

Comments

[gwyd.livejournal.com]

There are something like 5 sects of Mennonite. I'm not sure about Amish. I do know that strictness is different for each group and whenever a new technology appears they discuss whether it's allowed. (I knew a Mennonite organist from the least strict group once. She said they could have cars if they weren't ostentatious, but they had to black out all the chrome. Obviously, this is part of why her group was considered least strict.) I know rollerblades with blacked chrome are generally acceptable with most groups, while only one group allows cars.

So yes, more complex and varied than appears when one sees a buggy making it's way some where. I remember as a kid watching Amish debark a bus at the zoo, as at least some are in a sect that allows bus travel though not driving.

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

I knew that there are different sects and subgroups with different constraints. What I was surprised by from this article was (a) the nature of their process for deciding which technology to adopt and (b) the extent to which they've used pneumatic technology as an end-run around the lack of electricity.