Meet the Author
Flipping the
Switch on
Technology
By Eric Brende
HarperCollins, 2004
256 pages, $24.95
Eric Brende, SM ‘92, came to MIT’s Science, Technology, and Society program with a simple but subversive question: how much technology do we really need to live well? He found his answer, though not in the echoing hallways of the Infinite Corridor. After two years at MIT, Brende took his research to the field. He and his wife, Mary, spent 18 months living without electricity or running water on a farm in a Mennonite community, searching for the balance between too much technology and too little. With unabashed optimism, Brende recounts their experience in his book Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology.
The transition from high-tech, fast-paced Cambridge to a low-tech, pastoral farming community proved to be more liberating than limiting for the two visitors. The longing for air-conditioned summers and centrally heated winters vanished in cool summer breezes and the warmth of fireplaces; their car, which they used only a handful of times, usually caused more trouble than it was worth; and after bracing himself for the physical stresses and strains of manual labor, Brende was delighted to find that, by the grace of a setting sun and a nonexistent commute, a hard day’s work on the farm rarely lasted longer than a day at the office. Early on in his stay, Brende learned that he had more of one thing on the farm than he ever had in the city: leisure time.
Brende’s research into the unplugged life continued long after the completion of his master’s thesis. Returning to Cambridge after living on the farm, he drove a cab for several years and often conversed with his passengers about his experience. “It seemed that the more high tech the job the person had, the more wistfully they talked about the way of life I was describing,” he says. “I think a lot of people have the yearning to wean themselves from all these technological barnacles.”
Brende wasn’t always so skeptical and technology-averse. He was once a science fiction aficionado who gave up wrestling in the eighth grade because Star Trek coincided with practice. He became wary of technology, he says, “when my father got a word processor and spent so much time with that device that I almost never saw him again.” Brende had arrived at one of the fundamental criticisms of modernity: that time- and labor-saving devices prove neither time- nor labor-saving.
Brende has been successful at creating a pastoral, low-tech life for himself, even in an urban environment. He and his family now live in downtown St. Louis, with electricity and with running water, but without a television, computer, or electric washing machine. He makes soap and drives a bicycle rickshaw on weekends for a living; his kids are home-schooled and have attention spans undiminished by television and video games; and he says his wife actually looks forward to doing the laundry with the hand-powered machine. It’s an aerobic workout that comes with a bonus: clean clothes.
Recent Books from the MIT Community A Very Dangerous Woman: Martha Wright and Women’s Rights The Future of Work: How the New Order of Business Will Shape Your Organization, Your Management Style, and Your Life A People So Favored of God: Boston’s Congregational Churches and Their Pastors, 1710-1760 Saving Social Security: A Balanced Approach Boston’s Bridges Me++: The Cyborg Self and the Networked City We invite you to submit the names of recently published books and papers for this column. Contact MIT News |
Keep Reading
Most Popular
DeepMind’s cofounder: Generative AI is just a phase. What’s next is interactive AI.
“This is a profound moment in the history of technology,” says Mustafa Suleyman.
What to know about this autumn’s covid vaccines
New variants will pose a challenge, but early signs suggest the shots will still boost antibody responses.
Human-plus-AI solutions mitigate security threats
With the right human oversight, emerging technologies like artificial intelligence can help keep business and customer data secure
Next slide, please: A brief history of the corporate presentation
From million-dollar slide shows to Steve Jobs’s introduction of the iPhone, a bit of show business never hurt plain old business.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.