I think there's is a place for technology in permaculture. It's something I've been thinking alot during the lockdowns and after I started deep diving permaculture. I remember seeing one of designs from the original permaculture book for rooftop rainwater harvesting. There was a valve mechanism that lets the initial flush of water shed off first along with the accumulated debris from the roof. Being a software developer, I remember my initial thought for solving that problem was some kind of electronic device, maybe even one running Linux :-)

When I look at this as something that can last generations, the valve is simpler and probably more reliable. If we were to evaluate its resilience and anti-fragility, because it is produced with a much shorter technological dependency graph, it is more likely to be maintainable.

I marveled at the "curb cutting" that Brad Landcaster pioneered out in Tuscon. He dug basins for native trees and shrubs in public right-of-ways, and then cut notches in curbs. When the monsoon rains flush down the street, it fills up a basin, helps recharge the local aquifer, held by living plants. When the basin is full, there's a natural backpressure that then lets the rainwater flow to the next basin. There are no moving parts. The curb cut uses power tools, but if needed, you can chisel it out by hand using something that is lower-tech. Those are all technologies too, ones that may seem simple, perhaps primitive, but were deployed and used in alignment with permaculture ethical principles.

There was another book I have and the author talked about how they are intended to design their farm to grow multiple generations ... but they are willing to use a chainsaw for the initial build, a way of investing the last dredges of fossil fuels and power tools to set in motion something that can regenerate and keep on growing.

I think about some of Richard Stallman's essays. I remember the ones that laid down design principles for software that makes it accessible to people who may be blind, or have difficulty using a mouse, or even keyboard. It's laid out in terms of the principles of free software, but it could easily have come from permaculture ethical principles. I remember Christopher Alexander, and people's attempt to bring the ideas of living architecture, where inhabitants can make local changes that are still architecturally coherent. That would be end-user-modifiable software, such as Smalltalk or Hypercard. They don't web-scale and drive the aggregation flywheel, so it's been abandoned in consumer software.

I remember watching a documentary on a Native American elder speaking to her people about permaculture. How her initial reaction was that this was, yet again, another example of being told by arrogant people on what to do. Then she recounted how she saw people working the earth with reverence, and that went a long way towards credibility. In terms of permaculture, these people were living the permaculture ethical principles.

I don't think my life and career making a living with technology is a waste. There's a place for technology in all of this (rather than the inverse, a place for traditional values in technology). I've already been applying some of the permaculture design principles to how I work with Kubernetes, but I think there is a deeper change in my way of life that involves computer technology.