Kris De Decker: "Looking Back Towards a Human Powered Future"
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
Nate Hagens
4.8 • 553 Ratings
🗓️ 14 June 2023
⏱️ 84 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode, Nate welcomes back journalist, inventor, and low-tech expert Kris De Decker to take a deeper dive into a more human-powered system on the backside of the carbon pulse. Through both historical and experiential lenses, Kris shares five creative alternatives to current high tech systems - from hot water bottles to electric buses and preventative-focused healthcare systems. Could a move towards communal services and human-power also shift our mindsets to think twice about how much energy is actually needed to thrive and still be comfortable? Will society willingly move from a resource intensive growth economy towards a lower energy, human powered economy?
About Kris De Decker:
Kris De Decker shifted from a journalism career covering high tech to exploring low tech through formal and personal research and projects, including the Human Power Plant and the Solar Powered Website.
De Decker is creator and author of Low Tech Magazine and No Tech Magazine, publications which explore low tech solutions to questions society assumes must be solved through high tech.
De Decker has contributed articles about science, technology, energy and the environment to Mother Earth News, Techniques et Culture, Design Magazine, The Oil Drum, Resilience, EOS, Molenecho's, "Knack", "De Tijd" and "De Standaard". De Decker's books "Energie in 2030" advised the Dutch government on challenges related to science and technology and his book "Stralingswarmte: gezonde warmte met minder energie" provided a guide for how heat works.
For Show Notes and More visit: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/75-kris-de-decker
To watch this video episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4MYqRvm7vX4
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to The Great Simplification with Nate Higgins. |
| 0:06.3 | That's me. |
| 0:07.7 | On this show, we try to explore and simplify what's happening with energy, the economy, the environment, in our society. |
| 0:17.0 | Together with scientists, experts, and leaders, this show is about understanding the bird's eye view of how everything fits together, where we go from here and what we can do about it as a society and as individuals. |
| 0:33.2 | Returning to the Great Simplification is author and low-tech enthusiast Chris Decker. |
| 0:42.6 | Chris joins us from Barcelona, Spain, where he is the author of Lotech magazine and |
| 0:49.2 | no-tech magazine publications, which explore appropriate technology solutions to future lower |
| 0:59.0 | resource material energy human futures. |
| 1:03.6 | Chris is back today to give examples of five categories of appropriate technology. |
| 1:19.6 | For instance, hot water bottles that provide energy services to humans, cooling, heating, transportation. |
| 1:23.6 | He's been researching prior civilizations and their use of appropriate technology. |
| 1:30.2 | He knows a lot about this topic. |
| 1:32.5 | This is a fascinating conversation to me because I think our culture just assumes that we're |
| 1:37.1 | headed towards some George Jetson, more gadgets, more things, more stuff. |
| 1:42.8 | But energy underpins all that stuff. |
| 1:45.3 | So we're going to need technology. |
| 1:47.4 | But maybe not the type of technology that we expect. |
| 1:51.7 | Please welcome Chris Decker. Hello, Chris. |
| 2:08.6 | Hello, Nate. |
| 2:10.0 | Good afternoon. |
| 2:11.6 | It's morning here, afternoon in Barcelona. |
| 2:15.3 | Exactly. |
... |
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