Our present relationship to technology can hardly be compared to the situation Thoreau faced in 1854, when Walden was first published. American attitudes toward nature began to shift in his lifetime, as steamboats and railroads appeared on the scene. The advent of such penetrating technologies meant that the ordering force of civilization had gained a powerful new advantage in Continue Reading …
Thoreau’s Unsupported Anti-Technology Sentiments and New Work
If you're new to PEL and don't know what "New Work" refers to, go listen to our episode interviewing Frithjof Bergmann, or my short precog on the topic, or check out the videos on the New Work channel I manage, or read one of the many articles I've written here about it (like this one). There's a "Worldwide Conference" coming up on New Work in Detroit on Oct. 18-20 that I'll Continue Reading …
Thoreau on Over-Eating
It's been suggested that my questioning of Thoreau's (lack of) methodology was light on textual analysis. So here's an example for y'all's consideration. Wes quoted a passage from Ch. 11 ripping on over-eaters (section 5 in the annotated version): "The gross feeder is a man in the larva state; and there are whole nations in that condition, nations without fancy or Continue Reading …
Episode 103: Thoreau on Living Deliberately (Citizen Editon)
On Henry David Thoreau's Walden (1854). What is the appropriate life for a truly thoughtful person? Thoreau warns against getting ensnared by social bullshit like jobs and charity, and instead living simply, in direct contact with nature, relying as much as possible only on your own effort. His time in the woods on Walden pond was meant to be an experiment to see what life Continue Reading …
Episode 103: Thoreau on Living Deliberately
On Henry David Thoreau's Walden (1854). What is the appropriate life for a truly thoughtful person? Thoreau warns against getting ensnared by social bullshit like jobs and charity, and instead living simply, in direct contact with nature, relying as much as possible only on your own effort. His time in the woods on Walden pond was meant to be an experiment to see what life Continue Reading …
