Zach introduced me to an idea this morning - The Device Paradigm - link here. In short it is about whether a piece of techology makes us more helpless or not.
My aha was - Well then every piece of technology that you or I choose will take us down a road of being more or less helpless.
Is this why most of us are helpless today?
For instance take heating. My regular Twitter readers - good morning to you! - know that I heat with wood. This is a technology that takes me down the road of being less helpless. My source of wood is so much more in my control than oil. I could even cut it, if pushed. The stove is all knowable. With no oil I would be helpless. If my furnace broke - I would not have a clue.
I am not saying that we should all heat with wood - for if you live in the city this is not an option really. I am just saying that when choosing for where you are - what choice makes us more or less helpess?
I think this is why I am so comitted to local and real food. This is something that we can all get behind. Local food can be urban. What makes us more helpless than relying on Big Food to feed us?
Again this does not mean we all have grow it. I think it means that as a start we all can buy local.
On PEI if 15% of us made a committment to only buy local, we would Tip the System.
What choices do we face as a society that make us more or less helpless?
