News from the Front Porch Republic
Greetings from the Porch,
One of the essays I recommend in this week's Water Dipper notes that last year's COVID-induced interest in gardening appears to be carrying over to this year. That's great news, but it also means you should order your garden seeds early this spring.
In my weekly Water Dipper, I recommend essays about technology and virtue ethics, Kristin Lavransdatter, and the dangers of Big Meat.
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Rebecca Skabelund responds to recent debates regarding political policies that might encourage families to have more children: "Human fertility is not the root of our problems. It is but one symptom of a deeper, more elemental problem. We must recognize the pivotal importance of soil fertility as the foundation of all life, without which there can be no human flourishing."
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Anthony Selvaggio reviews Carl Trueman's The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self and considers how Trueman's diagnosis of the therapeutic self applies to far too many of us, regardless of our political persuasions.
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Barbara Castle considers how Marilynne Robinson’s Jack helps us perceive grace even in life's dark seasons.
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The Spring issue of Local Culture goes to the printer next week. March 1st is the last day to subscribe if you want a copy to show up in your mailbox.
What's on the docket for the coming week? A review of Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, reflections on Christian Platonism, an overview of the work of Guido Preparata, and a personal narrative pondering what it might mean to "think like a lamb."
The infrastructure collapse in Texas brought to mind the good work that Lee Vinsel, Andrew L. Russell, and others have been doing with The Maintainers group. Their writings help explain why it is that NASA can land a rover on Mars while millions of people lack electricity because of a foreseeable cold snap. In the coming weeks, FPR will be running a review of their recent book, The Innovation Delusion: How Our Obsession with the New Has Disrupted the Work That Matters Most. In the meantime, here's a quotation from the introduction that gives a taste of their argument:
We are writing this book because we are sick of hearing about what’s good for Silicon Valley, and what the innovating classes think is good for us. We think it’s time to refocus on what’s healthy for the vast majority of workers, for the business that aren’t at the cutting edge of digital transformation, and for all of us who don’t want to be subject to the whims of a few out-of-touch billionares.
For the past several years, we have researched how the gospel of innovation has affected transporation, computing, and other technological systems, while reflecting on the overlooked fields of infrastructure and maintenance. We have discovered a culture that seeks to apply the wrong lessons from the digital world to the physical world, a culture whose conception of technology reflects an unholy marriage of Silicon Valley’s conceit with the worst of Wall Street’s sociopathy.