[Child of the 7th Age]

Littlemanpoet --

Oh, yes, I know my house is stuffed with machines, and I couldn't live in the 21st century without them. And, most important and worthwhile are those machines used to help diagnose and cure illness. I certainly wouldn't want to throw those out the window.

But that doesn't mean I feel emotionally comfortable with this plethora of inventions.
I am extremely ambivalent about the cost we pay for those machines in the quality of our environment and the state of our soul. We race around in circles, so anxious to get somewhere, but uncertain where we are going. I guess part of me is very sympathetic to that old curmudgeon Tolkien.

Strangely enough, because we are a traditional Jewish family who live in walking distance of an orthodox synagogue, there is one day a week when I am completely independent of machines. No car, no TV or computer, no videos or lawnmowers, or microwaves or whatever. We walk everywhere, we visit people and talk to them, we take naps in the afternoon, and live life at the pace which I believe it's actally supposed to be lived. The only machine I truly miss is the computer (and sometimes I do cheat on that).

Anyways, I do understand your listing these as a defining criteria of the age,and I don't deny being totally dependent on machines, like everyone else. But I do have serious questions about where mechanization and the resulting homoginization(sp?)is leading our world.
sharon, the 7th age hobbit