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Mar 30, 2026
Technology isn't neutral
Technology has brought enormous benefits, but it’s never been neutral. Every innovation reflects certain values, assumptions, and trade-offs. Tools that seem straightforward can end up having wider ripple effects over time.
Prenatal ultrasound for instance, widely valued as a medical advance, has been used in ways that influence birth demographics. Social media platforms, built to keep people engaged, shape attention and reinforce existing preferences. And in construction, the shift toward faster, mass-produced building methods over the past century has often prioritised efficiency at the expense of longevity, craftsmanship, and human connection.
Swimming against the tide, Luddite-style isn't smart. We value what technology offers and use it much like anyone else, but with a bit of intention: choosing tools that genuinely serve a purpose and align with what matters most to us. We try to understand the intentions embedded in the tools that we use rather than blindly inviting them into our lives, and the long-term consequences of adopting them.
Our approach to technology extends to broader concerns like planned obsolescence and greenwashing. Products designed to fail after a designated period of time, or those marketed as “sustainable” when they clearly aren't encourages superficial engagement with consumption over intentional, long-term thinking. What we have created here at Heritage Timbercraft, on our farm, is a culture that resists those pressures, valuing durability, care, and substance over speed, convenience, or hype. Our method of mortise and tenon joinery is an extension of this culture, these values.
The philosopher Guy Debord wrote that modern life is increasingly dominated by images, performances, and mediated representations, which separate people from the reality of the world and their society. Screens, social media, and relentless media cycles encourage us to experience life as a series of appearances rather than engaging with it fully. One way we create space for real, unmediated experiences, human connection and reflection, is quite simply through far less exposure to entertainment media and technology. We sensed which way the wind was blowing in the early days of social media, which contributed to our decision to move here - Mohaka River Farm - and commit fully to what we believe to be a noble, fulfilling way of life, both for us and for our children.
It won't surprise you that we agree with the truism "good things take time". The joinery method we use - mortise and tenon - has endured for thousands of years. To us it seems a bit hasty, reckless even to just discard it along with so many other traditions that were abandoned in the twentieth century. History is full of bad ideas too, but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. There's wisdom in methods and processes that require care and patience over instant gratification.
The twentieth century showed both the brilliance and peril of technological acceleration. From DDT to asbestos, to the nuclear bomb, innovation for its own sake often ignored consequences, and we're going to be untangling that mess for many years to come. Today, as much as ever (or more) speed, novelty, and convenience are too often mistaken for progress. We’re aware there's been a movement in some circles toward slowing down and being present - which is positive - but it's evident that oftentimes commercial gain is the end goal, a kind of greenwashing for the soul.
If you've ever visited us here, you'll know our lives are anything but slow. In fact it seems a bit odd to be advocating the benefits of living a slower life given how busy we all are here. More aptly perhaps, we can unequivocally speak to the virtues of being aware of the biases embedded in technology. It’s why we’re just as comfortable using a chisel and mallet as we are using modern machinery when it makes sense. For us, it’s not about rejecting new tools or romanticising old ones, but about finding a thoughtful balance - choosing the right approach for the job, in a way that stays true to what matters. It gives us the space to live lives that reflect our values instead of those imposed by convenience, hype, or spectacle.
It's not nostalgia. It's intentional resistance to the spectacle, a reclaiming of direct, meaningful experience, and a way to live deliberately in the reality of the world rather than its mediated representations.
