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I'm down with this
(lemmy.nz)
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this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2026
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One of the more misunderstood things about Amish people is that they cant have anything electronic. They arent against electronics. Like you said they practice self reliance above anything else, so they refuse to use anything that is powered by oil and gas because they cant make oil and gas products themselves.
One thing that has become really popular with the Amish is EBikes and solar power. Theyre fine with buying those things even though they dont produce them. And theyre fine with anything that runs on solar power because they have plenty of access to the sun.
Im not sure exactly how the loophole works that allows them to buy solar panels, since they aren’t producing them on their own. But the bigger thing to them is that the source of energy itself is widely available to them, which isnt true of oil or gas. Maybe it is that they could theoretically harvest solar power in other ways, so they are fine with buying a more efficient way to do it than what they can produce within their community. Something like that
Apparently they also cheat a lot, like have a secret cell phone that they keep hidden and don't admit to having.
I'm certainly no expert, but I had the impression that the big thing was if something they got required ongoing resources, leaving them beholden to outside the community beyond the initial transaction. They will trade with outside communities, just if that thing you buy now means you need to get gasoline every week or if that thing requires you to pay an electric company, then it's a liability. So buy a solar panel, ok, one and done. Now things that can run and charge from them may be fair game.
The bigger 'loophole' is phones. They generally have phones available, though they limit their availability. Notably the concept of a phone ringing disrupting a family meal is unacceptable, so they likely would confine phone usage to some outbuildings. Also meant only to facilitate things like business or emergencies, not for personal communication.
Woah that's interesting. So they wouldn't be opposed to something like kite power, if you could turn the electronic software control program into a mechanical "clockwork" style mechanism.
And the invention of a grid storage battery that is circular / fully recyclable would be great too. But obviously there are already solutions like nickel iron but they aren't that efficient.
Genetically engineering a plant that is ultra efficient in producing a biofuel would be great. Ideally a bush that doesn't have to regrow and doesn't need to be replanted every year, but produce oil for diesel motors. Or some biofuel that can be used in a fuel cell, if you can build a simple fuel cell. Ammonia fuel cells maybe. (Sorry just a bunch of fancy ideas lol)