> Or tractors and then cut their tires out and replace with metal wheels. I can't see how that makes them more productive. If anything that makes them less prod

> Or tractors and then cut their tires out and replace with metal wheels. I can't see how that makes them more productive. If anything that makes them less productive, no? Of course it makes them less productive. I'm not saying that these restrictions don't make them less productive. They massively do. I'm saying that making themselves less productive is not their goal. They evaluate a technology based on its moral and societal impact, not on how productive it will make them. A more accessible parallel might be 18th-19th century America. Slave labor made cotton farms overwhelmingly productive. If a farmer decided not to use slaves, would you accuse him of not wanting to be productive? Or is it possible that for this farmer, slavery was a non-starter on moral grounds? > Isn't that the other justification for their way of life -- don't become too productive, it will hurt you, and ruin your way of life? I've never seen evidence of that. I know more about Mennonite history, but Mennonites were just fine about being some of the most productive farmers in Russia. The difference is that "living off the land" and "being the most productive" were not as hard to reconcile back then as they were after the industrial revolution.