2023-11-07 22:09:06
Don’t worry too much about the future: the many technologies that research and industry are concocting for us will solve our ecological problems. This is, roughly speaking, what liberal ecology whispers to us, keen to keep the path open to ultra-technology and growth. But faced with these empty promises, divergent voices resist. Questioning the possibility and merits of unlimited high-tech development, the “low-tech” movement is experiencing great dynamism. This is a promising movement, even if it currently suffers from some limitations.
Let’s explore what’s behind this low-tech concept. Although we may first think of very concrete objects such as a solar oven, a wooden wind turbine or simply a bicycle, the idea behind low-tech is broader. According to Philippe Bihouix, author of The age of low tech (Seuil, Anthropocène, 2014), these do not boil down to a type of technology, but constitute a Steps which follows several principles. He lists them in his book: questioning needs; design and produce truly sustainable; orient knowledge towards the economy of resources; develop products that truly serve society; relocate intelligently.
Each of these aspects deserves to be explored in greater depth, but this list already allows us to grasp the general vision of low-tech thinkers: the objective is to question both technically and politically the innovation and technology that we need. With particular attention to the need to produce sustainably and respectfully of our resources, but also, and above all, by questioning our needs. In other words, ask yourself the question of “why produce” in addition to “how to produce”.
More generally, the low-tech approach also questions the democratization of technology. This echoes the thoughts presented in our previous columns on the need to democratize the economy by allowing society to decide on its direction. Given its centrality, technology is one of the areas to be removed from technocratic control and brought into the public arena. A debate on the techniques and the direction of research related to them must take place; and low-techs have their role to play.
But it is clear that low-tech is not yet at this stage. In fact, they remain mainly confined to a “niche experimentation” level. For the moment, these are mainly projects carried out on a small scale by wealthy people who, for the most part, have time and space. Low-tech has not yet succeeded in making itself accessible to the greatest number of people. As long as these technologies are reserved only for owners of individual houses located on the outskirts, the change in system that they demand will not be achieved.
To what extent, however, could low-tech have a real influence on our overall ways of consuming? The question persists. Local experiments seem relevant insofar as they help to establish the credibility of these technologies, but the future of the low-tech approach necessarily involves its inclusion in a political aim which is still in its infancy. To give a concrete example of this necessity, the case of “repair cafés” is very telling. These workshops where you can restore defective electronic devices are very often faced with the fact that most objects are not designed to be repaired: impossibility of opening the device without damaging it, difficulty in obtaining replacement parts. spare parts, ultra-complicated product design, etc. This dynamic is not due to chance, it is the fruit of a capitalist industry whose unchanging line of sight remains profitability.
Faced with such an observation, it is no longer possible to circumvent the political aspect of the technique. To achieve the advent of low-tech on a large scale, only political measures will be able to set the industry in motion. For example, by forcing companies to provide spare parts several years after the sale of an object, or by subsidizing those carrying out low-tech projects. The road is promising, but still long for low-tech.
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