The Long Brown Path

Peak-bagging, running, barefooting, exploring, and other minimalist adventures in nature

More Nature, Less Technology

October 23, 2022 Barefoot KenClarence King, Edward Abbey, Ernst Schrodinger, Gary Snyder, Hoot Owl, Intergenerational Discussion, Jacques Ellul, John Burroughs, John Zerzan, Schrodinger's Cat, Spravato, Technology, The Technological Society, Walt Whitman, Worse is Better10 Comments

“You’ll be the troublemaker.” Arif gave me a sly look as he guided me to a far corner of the restaurant, and I nodded, because surely life is too short for small talk.

There were six of us seated at the table. Four middle-aged women — each one attractive, intelligent, engaging, successful. A quiet-spoken serious young man with a shock of brown hair. And me, wearing camouflage-colored Yankees cap and a few days’ worth of stubble.

This was an “intergenerational dinner,” hosted by the Hoot Owl, a cozy restaurant in upstate New York with a loyal local following. The event was organized around a series of questions designed to elicit discussion.

Anne had been tasked as the table’s guide, and now she opened with the first question – what makes you feel most alive? Continue reading “More Nature, Less Technology” →

The Cry of the Anarcho-Primitivists

February 2, 2016February 2, 2016 Barefoot Kenanarchy, Henry David Thoreau, John Zerzan, primitivism3 Comments

In short, all good things are wild and free.

— Henry David Thoreau, Excursions

As someone who enjoys running in the mountains, I find myself drawn to Henry David Thoreau’s vision of nature and wildness. But when you follow in Thoreau’s path, you discover that his admirers include not only outdoors enthusiasts, but also people with more extreme views. Consider the philosopher and writer John Zerzan, a self-proclaimed anarchist and primitivist, who criticizes industrial mass society as inherently oppressive and warns us that technology is leading humanity into an increasingly alienated existence, at the same time that it threatens to destroy the natural environment. To be sure, the anarcho-primitivist movement counts few members, but does that mean it’s safe to ignore Zerzan and his warning?

jz3 — Portrait of John Zerzan by Bata Nesah, Belgrade, 2013

Continue reading “The Cry of the Anarcho-Primitivists” →