The Luddite Travels

Luddites smashing textile machines

Luddite: an English textile worker (1811-1816) who opposed cost-saving machinery because it took away jobs; a person opposed to new technology (“a small-minded Luddite resisting progress”).

Headed toward a retreat with technology

critics in the Adirondacks, I read that sixth century

Benedictine monks were nicknamed “lovers

of the place” because they discovered themselves

by observing the river nearby and the shadows

cast by trees. In Dallas, my plane arrives

on time, but there’s no agent at the gate and no

kiosk listing flight departures. In this technosphere,

everyone receives messages from our airline

on an app—except me. (I bought 30 days of cell

service on a friend’s old smartphone for this trip, and learned

how to make calls—not texts. I did not buy

web access.) Without a gate number, I join the wave

riding to another airport wing. We exit

the train. In two minutes, I am alone.

There’s no kiosk here, either. A woman

with an ID tag and a neon vest glides in, tells her friend

she’s got to help a passenger. She quits her call to look up

my flight on her phone. “It’s canceled,”

she says. By the time I find C-25, the place

for rebooking, 634 other passengers stand in the bone-

chilling air ahead of me. Someone in this swarm, I think,

must have COVID. Beyond the windows, I can’t

see a plane through the fog. In line, men sport large

silver crosses and tall cokes on ice. Women with cleavage, bare legs,

flip flops and tattoos wear delicate

gold crosses. For three hours, we inch toward six

agents. Mothers fish purses for strawberry

starbursts, offer them to children—and me. Finally,

I’m first in line. My agent nabs the last seat

to Albany, a plane that will land

at 10 pm, too late for the 135-mile drive

to the retreat. I take a seat, phone my conference host

and my husband, tell them I’ll call again

once I have a hotel. A man returning from visiting his mother,

whose plane to Phoenix won’t leave Dallas until 11 pm, takes the seat

beside me. “Where are you headed?” he asks.

“To meet with tech critics,” I tell him. “Well,”

he asks, “what do you know about solar power?”

I inhale, I exhale. “I look at everything

manufactured from its cradle to its grave. Making

panels’ silicon wafers starts with coal, natural gas, nuclear and hydro

power, quartz, wood and petroleum coke. The ships that transport

raw materials and final products use bunker fuel. PFAs coat panels

in four places. When the batteries catch fire,

no one can open a window, leave home or use roads

until the toxins clear. Panels don’t biodegrade.” I inhale

again. “When corporations go bankrupt,

taxpayers pay to dispose of their facilities’ hazardous waste—

unless the county made the company post a bond. And then,

slave laborers make 80% of solar panels.” Ted listens.

He has ten more hours here. He asks what I know

about electric vehicles. “Manufacturing anything takes from the Earth

faster than it can replenish,” I explain, “and wastes

faster than it can absorb. Every smartphone has more

than 125 substances, each with its own energy-intensive, water

intensive, toxic waste-emitting supply chain. One EV can have 100

computers. Charging an EV overheats the nearby

transformer and shrinks its 30-to-40-year lifespan to three years.

Plus, all electric equipment poses fire

hazards.” Ted likes nuclear power. “What will you do

with the radioactive waste?” I ask. “It lasts for a million

years.” Ted shakes his head, asks what I recommend.

I look at our fellow travelers fixed to video games, Facebook, home

security cameras, shopping sites, airline

messages, the charging stations, the garbage

collectors picking up our plastic

cups, water bottles, empty bags

of chips and pretzels and protein bars. “This isn’t sustainable,”

I say, loud enough for only Ted to hear. “If

we admit that, we could try to reduce

our consumption by three percent each month.”

“Three percent’s a lot,” he says. “Where would you

start?” I ask. Ted’s a Trump supporter. He’d pegged me

a liberal. But now he doesn’t know what to call me.

“This is fun,” he says. “We don’t agree,

but we don’t argue.” On his smartphone, while the Sea

of Passengers grows loud, he finds a hotel

near Albany’s airport. I shout my Visa’s numbers

into my 30-day phone and book a room for the night.

Ted gets the number for Albany’s taxi service, snaps

a selfie of us. If I ever travel again, I must

call the airline and book flights with a human being.

Learn how to send and receive

text messages and access the web. Avoid

Dallas, which has frequent storms. Buy

insurance. Do not check bags. Carry food

for two days, a scarf and a wool sweater.

Go for the pat-down and decline the facial

recognition photo. Welcome the two-mile treks

between flights. After brown rice and beans I brought

from home, I brush my teeth. When I spit pink

in the sink, I see I have a dental

problem. At the gate to Albany, my flight

is delayed another hour. Before takeoff, the gates will change

twice more. I think of the Benedictine monks

and remember all over again that today is an invitation

to love my place in the world.

OTHER NEWS

Children

“Do Children Have a ‘Right to Hug’ Their Parents? Hundreds of U.S. counties have ended in-person jail visits, replacing them with (profitable) video calls,” by Sarah Stillman, The New Yorker, May 13, 2024. 

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that one in nine children aged 3-17 has been diagnosed with ADHD, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Symptoms include trouble paying attention, overactivity and impulsive behaviors. The Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology published the study. Nearly 78% percent of children diagnosed with ADHD had at least one other diagnosed disorder including behavioral problems, anxiety, developmental delays, autism and/or depression. An unrelated study found that between 2000 and 2021, the number of calls to US poison control centers for children’s ADHD medication errors jumped 300%. Yet another study revealed that 1 in 4 middle and high school students abuse stimulants prescribed for ADHD.

The Energy Transition

Robert Bryce, “Vaclav Smil Calls Bullshit on Net Zero. Smil calls net zero ‘wishful thinking’ and ‘impossible.’ Plus, U. of Michigan study says lack of copper makes electrification of transportation ‘essentially impossible.’

Mark P. Mills, “The ‘Energy Transition’ Won’t Happen: Foundational innovation in cloud technology and artificial intelligence will require more energy than ever before—shattering any illusion that we will restrict supplies,” May 23, 2024.

Keith Cutter reports that an EV charger draws substantial amounts of power and therefore significantly increases alternating current (AC) magnetic fields within nearby homes. EV chargers operate for extended periods, leading to prolonged AC magnetic field exposure inside homes. Widespread EV charging also impacts the broader environment since our power distribution system returns most current through the earth. When multiple households use EV chargers, they can create elevated AC magnetic field exposure across a broader area.

Democracy

A California bill, AB817, would allow all public meetings conducted by certain government bodies to take place entirely virtually, reducing face-to-face accountability. The First Amendment Coalition questions what an all-virtual government meeting would mean for communities.

Mental health, physical health & losing culture

“The Internet’s Final Frontier: Remote Amazon Tribes,” by Jack Nicas, NY Times, June 2, 2024. When the Amazon’s Marubo tribe first got the Internet’s video chats with faraway loved ones and emergency call help, everyone was happy. But after only nine months, the Marubo grapple with teenagers glued to phones, gossipy chats, addictive social networks, online strangers, violent video games, scams, misinformation, pornography—and challenges to their culture.

Meanwhile, “The collapse of affordable internet will hit indigenous communities the hardest,” by Brian Fung, CNN, May 1, 2024.  “Will the internet soon reach the one-third of people without it? Satellites, lasers and other new tech could soon help connect even truly remote areas,” by Kathryn Hulick, Science News Explores, January 5, 2023.

Vanessa Machado de Oliveira’s new book explores what “we need to compost without throwing up, without throwing a tantrum, and without throwing in the towel.” It invites us to respond to crisis…freshly: Hospicing Modernity: Facing Humanity’s Wrongs and the Implications for Social Activism.

Brain tumor rates are rising in the US. Public health analyst Dr. Joel Moskowitz reports on the role of cell phone & cordless phone use.

Wind power

“Oregon is Facing Largest Energy Development Threat in Generations: The federal government is planning to build hundreds of Empire-State-Building-size wind turbines off our coast, with unknown risks to ocean life,” Max Wilbert, June 3, 2024.

            “120 Questions about Offshore Wind Energy: Unknown and potentially catastrophic effects on the ecosystem,” Max Wilbert, June 14, 2024.

Solar PVs

“Solar project to destroy thousands of Joshua trees in the Mojave Desert,” by Melody Petersen, LA Times, May 31, 2024. This won’t be the first time humans cut down Joshua trees to erect solar PVs. If you haven’t yet, please watch Jeff Gibbs’ 2019 film, Planet of the Humans.

            “Citizen activists take on ‘destructive’ solar power plants in France’s Provence region,” by Cyrielle Cabot, FRANCE 24, March 6, 2024.

AI

Kate Crawford: Anatomy of AI, Very worthwhile Wirth lecture at University of New South Wales, 2019.

            “Data Centers are Driving an Electricity Demand Surge from AI Platforms Like ChatGPT,” by Frank Holmes, Forbes, June 3, 2024. Of course, desktop and mobile computers, electric vehicles, solar PVs and industrial wind systems also require copper: it conducts electricity, lasts long and resists corrosion. Alas, for every kilogram of copper mined, 210 kilograms of waste are generated.

Journalism

Journalism after the death of hyperlinks: A case for the California Journalism Preservaion Act by Matt Pearce, April 17, 2024.

            Because newsrooms are losing money, they’re “re-organizing.” Matt Pearce, formerly a reporter for the LA Times, describes what’s going on in newsrooms.

Palestinian struggles and resilience

“Where Olive Trees Weep,” a just-released documentary about the struggles and resilience of Palestinians under Israeli occupation through the eyes of Ashira Darwish, Ahed Tamimi, Amira Hass and Dr. Gabor Mate. Register to watch online between June 6th - June 27th, and access 21 days of live conversations on Palestine. Send queries to maurizio@scienceandnonduality.com.