Epicurus does not take any clear stance on technology. But his system suggests that reducing one’s desires is preferable to fulfilling them because then one can achieve happiness without eternally chasing material goods. Technology, at least in the way that it is deployed in capitalism (based on planned obsolescence) contradicts the essential simplicity of the ideal Epicurean life. Epicurus would likely have sympathised with Luddism.
This article is part of The Ultimate Guide to Epicurus.
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Epicurus suggests that one could be happier by reducing one’s desires rather than fulfilling them. For him, fulfilling one’s desires only leads to further desires, while learning to desire things that are both natural and easy to obtain is the way to long-lasting happiness.
Of course, one may ask how this would work in today’s world. What is a natural desire? The desire for natural food, perhaps? Or the desire for clean water and air? Epicurus thinks that these desires are easy to fulfil just because they are natural. It is the vain desires that are hard to satisfy (for instance, the desire for an expensive handbag). But is this still true? And is Epicurus in favour of Luddism?
If Epicurus had a look around a modern supermarket, he might be surprised. Some vain desires are extremely easy to satisfy nowadays. Beer costs almost nothing. Junk food is cheap. Sweets are cheap, as are Chinese soup noodles. But what about organic fruit and vegetables? Clean water (from Tibet or France), packaged in little bottles? These are the costly, luxury items. Obesity, in our societies, is a marker of poverty. Highly processed, high-sugar foods are the staple of the poor and the unprivileged, while organic kale smoothies are the lunch of the well-off. Today, only the wealthy can afford natural apples and pesticide-free lettuce, only they can nibble at a carrot on the terrace of the country club. The poor have to make do with dirty water and roadside pollution, while the rich can afford to move out to greener pastures and breathe what Epicurus would have thought of as the ultimate natural good: clean air.
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Luddism (or neo-Luddism) is the idea that technology is bad, something to be avoided. In the 19th century, British textile workers opposed the introduction of machines in cloth production, because they feared that they would lose their jobs to the machines. Which is exactly what happened. Neo-Luddites are people who, for a variety of reasons, think that we would be better off with less …
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