BACK TO THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY
Médor* didn’t want to pay for my trip
*The Belgian magazine that originally published this piece
By Guillaume Lion
With Kris De Decker
Translated from French by Mira Matthew
The Don Quixote of the 21st century
Somewhere between Brussels and Barcelona...
This guy looks harmless…
Heading to Spain on vacation? You’re gonna have a blast!
Nah, for work.
You hitch-hike to work?! What do you do?
I’m doing a comic strip article on a Belgian journalist called Kris De Decker. He founded Low-Tech Magazine.
Never heard of it.
It’s a site with loads of articles on ancient and forgotten technologies.
Like the PS4?
Er… Let’s just say it’s a sort of catalogue of tools for a sustainable society.
It’s in English originally, but it’s translated into loads of languages by volunteers.
[keep English version of screenshot and article titles]
240 000 visitors per month
I hope Kris De Decker will be impressed that I hitch-hiked here…
- El Masnou -
Dormitory suburb of Barcelona
Hey! Did you have a good trip?
No hicks. I left Brussels yesterday morning.
Not bad. Quicker than when I go by train.
Kris only travels by rail, but he carefully avoids high speed trains, which he considers energy-intensive and elitist. *
*”High speed trains: planes on wheels” (2007)
*” High Speed Trains are Killing the European Railway Network” (2014)
Did you move to Barcelona to save energy on heating?
Er, no…
I came to live with my girlfriend, Adriana. She’s from here.
Adriana is a costume designer for the theatre
Welcome
Thank you
Here is my solar office.*
Cool.
As we’re renting I don’t have access to the roof. But the windowsills do the job.
*”How to Get Your Apartment Off the Grid” (2016)
My point isn’t to produce ‘clean’ energy. In fact, the carbon footprint of these panels isn’t great.
The only reason my system is more sustainable is because it forces me to lower electricity use considerably.
Which is what society should be doing on a grand scale. If not, replacing fossil fuels by renewable energy would be self-defeating.*
*”How (Not) to Run a Modern Society on Solar and Wind Power Alone” (2017)
When there’s enough sun I can switch on my lil’ train.
Cargo transportation could function by the same principle. Like in the time of the windmills; grain was only milled when the wind blew.*
*”How to Run the Economy on the Weather” (2017)
Here’s the bike generator we just built with my intern, Marie.* A useful machine when there is neither sun nor wind.
I’ll need your help later to do some experiments with it, if you will.
Yeah, for sure!
*”How to Build a Practical Household Bike Generator” (K. De Decker, M. Verdeil, 2022)
And here’s the solar website. It was conceived in the same vein as sites from the 90’s, so as to consume the least energy possible.*
Server
Charge controller
Lead-acid battery (138 Wh)
PV panel (50 W)
The battery gets the site through the night. Otherwise my American readers would have to get up early to read my articles.
*”How to Build a Low-tech Website?” (2018)
Solar office
Solar website
The website is sometimes inaccessible after consecutive cloudy days. It is available 95% of the time. To get to 100% I would have to expand the whole installation, which would make it much less sustainable.*
*”How Sustainable is a Solar Powered Website?” (K. De Decker, R. Roscam Abbing, M. Otsuka, 2020)
And when the website is offline, you can access it thanks to the printed version.
1600 pages of pure thrill
Here is the latest volume, with all the comments on the site from 2008 to 2021. Got it yet?
No.
600 pages
Here. It’s yours.
Thanks.
What a strange book…
Can you sign it for me?
Come on, cariño, it’s easy! Write something nice and sign!
But I dunno what to write…
Try to sum up your work in one sentence.
Fuck high technology! Kris
D'you like dancehall?
Yeah, I think so.
Yes a so mi like it, bring yo buddy come yah meck me ride it
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM
Wow, I’m relieved.
It’s great, huh?
No, it’s not that…
It’s just that as you’re so anti-technology, I was afraid you’d be some kind of uptight ascetic.
I’m not anti-technology!
I just think we have to stop believing that every new technology’s always better than what preceded it.
I’m not a Luddite.
A what?
Luddites were 19th century English artisans who lead a revolt against industrialisation by destroying machines.
Today it’s a pejorative term describing someone who is refractory towards technology.
But actually… I don’t see why it should be pejorative: their struggle was legitimate!
I take that back: I am a Luddite.
Hey, do you have a scientific training?
Nope
I worked for ten years as a science and technology journalist for Belgian newspapers and magazines. I was paid peanuts.
Do you get by now?
I make a living with my books. I sell five a day. It doesn’t make me rich but I don’t spend much. I live in social housing. I don’t have a car. I don’t use even heating.*
*”The revenge of the hot water bottle” (2022)
That’s a nice looking ceramic utensil.
It’s a low-tech food steamer that we got for free because Kris spoke about it on his site.
I had no part in it! I didn’t ask for anything.
So you’re actually an influencer.
I’m no sell-out!
Yeah yeah
Although I must’ve brought a lot of clients to the icebreaker brand when I wrote on their merino thermal underwear.*
*”Insulation: First the Body, Then the Home” (2011)
You could at least ask them to replace your old long johns.
Never!
They’ve got holes everywhere! Show Guillaume so he can draw them in his comic!
No, it’s too intimate! I’ll show him if he shows me his ring.
His what?
His low-tech contraceptive contraption.*
*See my previous comic “Tiny lil’ balls” (2021)
The first time I wrote about obsolete technology was thanks to Adriana. She was reading a historic novel that mentioned the existence of “optical telegraphs”.
It was a super fast communication technology that worked without electricity.*
While documenting the subject I realised that history was full of forgotten ingenious technologies.
*”Email in the 18th Century: The Optical Telegraph” (2007)
A package for Señor De Decker.
What? He gets stuff delivered?!
Yeah, I know... I couldn’t find it in the shops. It’s beeswax. I’m going to try to make candles out of it.
Cool. You writing on that at the moment?
Nope. Bows ’n arrows.
You gonna write a piece on the history of hunting?
No, on war. How to make it sustainable again.
What?! Seriously?
Well, yeah. Modern war’s an ecological disaster.
I’m staying in this caravan lent to me by a friend of Adri & Kris.
It seems weird to me to want to make war sustainable.
I know, it’s provocative! I will be covering a subject that’s rarely evoked in the conversation on sustainability.
It’s like my article on high tech healthcare.*
*”How Sustainable is High-tech Health Care?” (2021)
Soon, I’m going to translate that article into Dutch, which means that my mother will read it…. I’m afraid it will upset her…
Huh? Why? You’re not saying that we should leave the elderly to die?
No, but criticism of medical technologies is a sensitive subject for those with fragile health.
Later on the bike generator…
I don’t think anyone’s ever tried this! I don’t know if it’ll work: you’ve got to produce enough current.
I’ll do my best.
Your speed determines the voltage. You’ve got to keep a constant voltage of 12 volts.
When I’m screwing it will be harder, but you absolutely have to pedal at a constant speed.
And most importantly, do not stop before I finish, otherwise you’ll blow the fuse, or worse: electrocute me.
Yeah, I’m doing it for science!
Godverdomme! You stopped before me! You want me dead?
Sorry Kris, I thought you were done screwing…
That’s OK. Well then, we’ll try the drill. You’re gonna have to pedal faster!
Do you have any hope for the future, Kris?
No. It’s beyond fucked. Lost cause.
Really? Yet your articles are full of optimism.
Civilisation will never change its trajectory, so why bother?
History has never seen humanity do a U-turn.
As my mother says, “You can’t fight the wind.”
If it’s hopeless, why do you continue to write?
I dunno…
Maybe just to say I tried?
Hey, do you mind not drawing me with a joint? I don’t want to be taken for a hippie.
As you wish, doc.
