That sounds like a good place to start. Take it one step at a time. You can even start with just an offline morning a week. You said you like reading books so that’s one thing you can do in those times. I’m sure you have other hobbies or tasks you can do that don’t require digital devices.

Unfortunately most intentional communities don’t last very long and many are cult-like, overly collectivist or based on (what I would consider) wacky ideologies. There’s a few that have lasted and seem reasonable but I haven’t looked into them much yet and doubt I would be able to visit them. My ideal has some overlap with back-to-the-land movements but it goes further in that it strives to ultimately get away from the internet, cars, drugs and other modern tech. I’m not aware of any intentional communities specifically trying to do that.

Yes, they allow books. But unfortunately you wouldn’t be able to join them unless you hold their specific religious convictions.

My hope is that intentional communities can form that support each other so that they are not subject to strong competitive pressures that practically necessitate anti-consumer practices and the use of modern technology that does more harm than good. The central principles would be belief that doing things the natural way is (almost always) best and that societal wellbeing is largely unrelated to efficiency, economics and material goods once the basic needs have been met. No other religion or beliefs would be required. Through their positive example these communities would influence the rest of the world in the right direction too so that we might not become extinct.

To this end I started https://lemmy.today/c/StopTech and https://lemmy.today/c/ParallelSocieties. I’m working on groups on other platforms as well and trying to start a community in the real world.

I definitely think the Amish way of life is happier, healthier and more beneficial to others than American life for the past 100 years. But the way they managed that is by rejecting modern technology with very little picking and choosing like using radios but not phones or cars but not planes. I’m sure when they do pick and choose (e.g., I heard some use pesticides like Roundup) it will usually have negative consequences (see Roundup).

But unfortunately the Amish will die along with everyone else if there isn’t a global stop to technological progress. Forming anti-tech communities is an important step in the right direction but awareness of the issues needs to spread to most people on the planet - and fast.

I’m afraid you can’t just take the good parts of modern technology without the bad. You either let everyone have access to modern tools and we go extinct or you limit access to a small group who will have total control over everyone else. Or simply get rid of the technology. The sweet spot wasn’t 1999, it was before we had TV dumbing us down, before we had microplastics making us sick and before we had cars destroying local communities.

Reject modernity, embrace nature

Removed by mod

The censorship, yeah

I give it 50 years tops

When all jobs are able to automated it will mean human intelligence, skill and labor has been surpassed by machines. We will be treated like pets in a world run by machines, like WALL-E. We will have no real autonomy or ability to determine the future of the world. There will no longer be any reason to try at anything, since all useful tasks will be done by machines and the only things humans will do is pass the time and experience emotions. But we know that people aren’t happy unless they have some purpose. Goals, challenges, struggles. Depression is going to skyrocket if machines get to human intelligence.

Evil is part of human nature. Technology confers great power to both the good and bad, but it’s much harder to create than destroy, so the result is that evil gets amplified more than good.

It’s bad, but I can imagine worse. Wait until they use AI for biological weapons and accidentally or deliberately make us extinct.

The “Cancel ChatGPT movement” doesn’t appear to be mentioned in the article, but other outlets say hashtags like #CancelChatGPT are trending on X.

I think you’re right that stock trading has enabled a lot of bad and perhaps shouldn’t have been allowed. At least on a large scale beyond a single town or county. Paper certificates for money may have been a bad idea too. Even the use of a common currency like gold may have been a net negative. I think a barter system has positives over a common currency in that it requires people to work together and form communities.

Right

We’ve seen it many times. TV, teflon, social media, cars, AI…

Agreed but I haven’t heard of that

Or usury

Have you seen Gattaca?

I wouldn’t trust those funds myself. Plenty of oil companies say they’re all about reducing CO2 and as I remember ESG was playing favorites rather than reflecting carbon emissions. Even companies that are trying to reduce emissions can still be invading people’s privacy, lobbying (bribing) for bad legislation and doing other evil things.

It is reality. And unfortunately any “ethical” funds usually just focus on avoiding oil companies or military companies but are just fine with AI companies, surveillance companies, eugenics companies and so on. Nobody agrees on what is ethical I’m afraid. One man’s unethical practice is another man’s unethical-to-avoid practice.