technology 160

Alexa is no doubt low-hanging fruit for the readers of Front Porch Republic. It is a place-contaminating, unlimited tyrant. If you've purchased one, watch out. When the lights start pulsing…

We don’t have to escape to a new and better location with more perfect neighbors. We need to lovingly attend to the ones we have.

Our educational approach should include the validation of physicality, the imitation of the master, and the celebration of tradition.

In my efforts to point people to various methodologies of eco-agriculture I often encounter those who dispute these approaches. One of the frequent refrains I hear is, “We can’t go…

The arguments that Deneen and Shatzer advance are really two sides of the same coin; as one interpreter of Marshall McLuhan put it, “We make our tools, and then our…

As is so often the case when new technology promises to correct the errors of human fallibility, robo-umps could be bad for everyone involved.

In Part 1, I outlined the basic difference between counting and measuring and gave some examples of how data is not always objectively derived. Now I want to move the…

In a recent essay for Christianity Today, “Do All Plants Go to Heaven?,” Abigail Murrish speculates that GMOs might be present in the New Jerusalem. It’s certainly an interesting question.…

Editor's Note: Matt's piece kicks off a mini-symposium on the question of whether localists should use social media, and if so, how. As a Twitter user myself, albeit a somewhat…

Last fall Alan Jacobs published a slim book with a bold title: How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds. Jacobs is a professor of English literature,…

“Make Communities Great Again.” James Bruce argues the federal government should adopt policies that would strengthen local communities. “The Tyranny of Convenience.” Tim Wu writes about how our quest for…

When an autonomous Uber vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona, Uber suspended its fleet of self-driving cars and assured everyone that it was “cooperating with authorities.” Such “cooperation”…

Each week, I’ll try to post links to recent essays and stories that might interest Porchers. If you have additional essays to recommend, please link to them in the comments.…

If I were God, I’d keep other company.

The invaluable works of our elder writers, I had almost said the works of Shakespeare and Milton, are driven into neglect.

"Through delayed fulfillment, good desires grow stronger." Gregory the Great Almost fifty years ago the famous marshmallow experiment suggested the importance of being able to wait. There are many troubling…

“And wicked men seek for people with whom to spend their days, and shun themselves; for they remember many a grievous deed when they are by themselves, but when they…

Efficiency is a false god.

[This post is adapted with permission from “GPS and the End of the Road,” an essay in the anthology Why Place Matters: Geography, Identity, and Civic Life in Modern America,…

Read this just before your shut your computer down for good. Here's a taste: Once upon a time, a friend of mine accidentally took over thousands of computers. He had…

Hidden Springs Lane. What’s the deal with Smart Phones? Go to any public gathering and most of the young people (and some of the not-so-young) are clearly more interested in…

History is never merely history.

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Senator Rand Paul's filibuster of the nomination of John Brennan to be head of the CIA--something that he did in order to "draw attention to…

Hidden Springs Lane, VA. Sprint is running a new ad pushing the merits of its data plan. While it might be a mistake to make too much of an ad,…