Research
Appropriate technology
Tools sized to the people and places that use them, as E. F. Schumacher and the intermediate technology movement argued.
-
Six ways of making coffee: which is best?
A moka pot, a Turkish pot, a French press, an AeroPress, a drip machine, and an espresso machine: which one can I most easily understand, repair, and replace? And which makes the best brew?
-
Small is beautiful, fifty years on
Schumacher and Illich both published books about scale in 1973. Schumacher’s idea of “intermediate technology” adds a complementary test to Illich’s counterfoil research: is a tool capable, yet simple enough for its users to maintain?