The 20th century gave us three great networks: paved roads, the power grid and the information infrastructure. Thanks to the tools these have made possible, the middle-class North American household has become a little post-industrial factory in its own right, from mechanized agriculture (the riding lawn mower) to printing documents. Even our power drills and screwdrivers are not so different from those used on construction sites.
So where is the technological vanguard to go? The really radical alternative technology is living off the grid–declaring independence from central utilities. And the experts at this are Amish farmers and craftsmen, whose religious rules, values and economic needs have nourished a dynamic technological culture.
This should not be surprising. Medieval Christian theology gave labor a dignity it never achieved among Greek and Roman philosophers. The historian David F. Noble, in The Religion of Technology, points to the revolutionary step of the 9th century theologian Erigena, who confounded the sneers of classical writers against “useful arts” like architecture and medicine by equating their dignity with the seven “liberal arts.” Manual work was sanctified and inspired by God and was a means to salvation, and monasteries became centers of innovation. Even in the 19th century, ideals of simplicity and utility inspired American Shaker tools, including one design most of us still use: the flat broom.
According Donald B. Kraybill, a leading scholar of Amish technology, Amish communities unanimously rejected the rural electrification movement of the 1920s and 1930s as a threat to their principle of separation from the world. Some observers might have predicted that this ban and the rejection of tractors would threaten Amish crafts and farming in the competitive marketplace. But the opposite happened.
Amish ingenuity was focused on making horse-drawn agriculture more efficient. With the rise of large-scale mechanized farming in the U.S. after World War II, large equipment makers stopped developing machines for horse-drawn agriculture. Yet there is always room for innovation and improvement, even in “old” technology. Amish entrepreneurs saw this opportunity and are now exporters of devices that help make Third World draft-animal farming competitive with tractors as fuel prices have increased. Their best-known device is a plow that can be raised and lowered with hydraulic power.
Amish innovation goes beyond agriculture. As Amish farms have been divided among large families, crafts have helped preserve the Amish way of life. While Amish rules (called the Ordnung) differ among settlements–some of the strictest ban all motors–Amish leaders allow changes that make shops more competitive if they don’t threaten basic values. As an alternative to utility-supplied power, Amish shops may use combinations of generators and air compressors.
Dan Esh, an Amish woodburner and carver in Lancaster, Pa., (still the best-known of the settlements) observes that there is nothing wrong with electricity in itself; it is limited because of the evils it can lead to. His farm has no grid connection, but its diesel engine produces air power for essential equipment like milking machines and milk coolers that meet health regulations.
Esh is enthusiastic about compressed-air technology. “Air is a very efficient system,” he observes, and non-Amish people in Lancaster County have been adopting air-powered tools, using conventional electric motors to compress air in tanks. Amish machinists are also known for excellence in producing hydraulic parts in shops using compressed air for power tools. Some Amish establishments are now large enough to need elevators; theirs have been adapted from forklift trucks and can easily carry people, as well as goods, among floors.
Amish teachings also distinguish between ownership and use. Esh works with conventional electric tools in a shop with a non-Amish owner. Private automobiles are forbidden, but most Amish entrepreneurs and families may use taxi services. Amish businesses may also work with non-Amish marketers and Webmasters.
The future for Amish technology looks bright. Amish religion emphasizes conscientious work and self-sufficiency, so that paradoxically Amish rejection of the consumer society makes “Amish-made” a brand among consumers, even for un-Amish products. Custom home electronic entertainment systems built in Amish workshops are sold on the Web.
Some might see potential conflicts in participating in such worldly marketing, but Dan Esh is optimistic about his community’s flexibility in preserving its essential values. Faith demands careful work and rejection of outside aid. The older he gets, Esh says, the more he’s convinced of his leaders’ wisdom in making the right decisions. Seeing the continued success of Amish technology, it’s hard to disagree.
Edward Tenner is a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University. He is author of Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences and Our Own Devices: How Technology Remakes Humanity.