Asklemmy

This toaster:

Might as well link the Technology Connections video already.

Yes, it's an 18 minutes video on a 1950s toaster, you can thank me later.

Scissors. Their value is noticed most when you cannot find them.

Vaccines.

Knives.

About as low tech as it gets, even for modern knives that are pretty high tech in how they're made.

But it's entirely possible for a person to make a knife with nothing but tools they can make by hand, with no need for anything other than rocks as tools. I've done it, and it isn't like I'm some kind of super genius.

You can make slightly more high tech tools if you want, and make metal knives. The caveat to that is that you have to know how to identify sources for the metal in the first place, unlike stone tools where you can figure it out by banging rocks together until you find some that make sharp edges. But making an oven that can turn out low-grade materials is realistic for a single person to do.

But a knife, in its essence is just an inclined plane done to a very fine degree. Doesn't get any more low tech than that. Mind you, there's plenty of complexity involved in all of the basic machines like inclined planes, but that's more about understanding them than using them or making them.

Knives are mankind's most important tool. They were among our first tools, and it can be argued that they were our first manufactured tools. And we still use them regularly. Some of us use them every day, multiple times a day.

That's a lasting technology in every degree of refinement.

Bicycle

Books

Rope or really any cordage. Can't begin to tell you how handy learning 7-10ish knots has come, plus lashings

Do vinyl records count? I really like that they make beautiful noise from a simple electromechanical process.

INDOOR PLUMBING

I live in an apartment complex. The thought of having to share an outhouse (more than 1 if lucky) with hundreds of strangers TERRIFIES ME. And/or use chamberpots. FUCK NO

A BLESSED ETERNAL AFTERLIFE OF BLISS FOR ALL HUMANS WHO CONTRIBUTED TO INDOOR PLUMBING SCIENCE 😩

Rice cookers. It's super low tech but works great to cook perfect rice.

Manual can openers are better than electric can openers

A fountain pen is just a controlled leak

Sharpening stones.

you need an edge so many times in your life. When you're using scissors, slicing veggies, pruning trees, harvesting mushrooms, posting online, mowing grass, carving wood, cutting roots, trimming nails, scraping stoves/ovens, shaving, digging, trimming, pealing whatever.

There are so many dumb fancy arse awful tools that butcher edges and work in one specific case. No! For millenia people have been grinding edges, it is not difficult to learn it just takes practice.

Modern manufacturing means we can enjoy extremely consistent stones in well characterised grades. Go use some, and enjoy how much less effort life requires when everything that cuts, cuts easily.

S-trap / P-trap (Eg in sinks and toilets)

And zip ties 👍

door wedge

Partially buried housing (ground cooling effect)

Automatic (mechanical) wristwatches.

I love the idea of a truly symbiotic relationship between a thoughtfully and carefully designed mechanism and a human. I walk around and live my life, and by doing so, I give it the kinetic energy it needs to keep its mainspring wound, and in return it tells me what time it is. Always. Without fail. I just have to tweak the time if it starts to get too far off, but that’s barely even an imposition. After a good long while, it’s prudent to have them serviced, but if you’re not observing any problems, it’s generally perfectly fine, and will keep ticking along as long as you wear it regularly.

Waterwheels. Thousands of years old but still an essential part of our energy system.

String/rope. With a couple of knots, loops and tension you can make a lot of things with it.

Dice.

Wood working ? Whoever craftsman who first makes a stringed-instrument, compared to a piano an acoustic guitar is a relatively simple instrument and it gives me endless joy even without company or electricity.

Consider the humble pillow.

Furniture generally, beds specifically

The anvil, can make a lot of stuff with it. You can even use it to make fire, striking a piece of iron until it's hot enough to light a forge or small fire. Older copies of the Machinery's handbook(the machinist's Bible) have a few things on blacksmithing.

I bought a can opener years back that doesn't cut the can, instead it separates the lid from the can with no sharp edges. It's dumb but I love it.

Siphons

Maps and compass. I like the reliability of finding my way no matter where I am. Plus it’s fun!
Especially the trick of using two landmarks to pinpoint my location on a map makes me feel like an old-fashioned navigator :)

Lathes. You spin a thing and cut it, which sounds unimpressive, but from there you can bootstrap to pretty much all modern technology.

Axes, I have four and I will get another next year.

I have a hatchet for small tasks, a midsized axe for cutting small trees down and chopping, a Pulaski for landscaping/ digging tasks and I have a splitting axe/maul for splitting rounds.

There is something incredibly rewarding and fun about swinging an axe.

Tweezers.

When you realize how many wars were averted because of them.

Wheels are pretty cool

Hand tool woodworking. It's amazing what you can make without a single electron. Its also amazing to feel the tools, the resistance and subtle vibrations as you use them. Like an extension of your own body. I love chiseling, especially large mortises. Hearing that sharp, deep thud, and seeing it sink in as it bites into the wood is so satisfying. Especially when using metal hammers, they are so responsive.

I love sawing, especially when relaxed and working at a slow pace, seeing all the sawdust fly out with each stroke. Sawing isn't fun when working on difficult pieces of wood, when working in a relaxed manner with softwood, the hoarse sounds of the saw starts to sound like purring and it begins to cut exceptionally well.

I love the finish of handplanes, so smooth it becomes water resistant.

Overall very spiritual and relaxing (as relaxing as you allow it to be at least)

Cars and trucks made before the 2010's. Wanna fix a new model car? I don't have the diagnostic setup so that's a no for me. Oh, and new key fobs make me really mad.

Submerged deep sea internet cables that connect the continents.