As products of nature, we oscillate. Like waves of the ocean, swaying of a tree, wings of a bird, and most other natural things, we are made in a world that uses half the time for resetting.
Our tools reflected that for most of the time we've used them: the swing of an adze, the back-and-forth of a saw or file, the breathing of bellows, the pull of a bow or thread through a cloth. Even drills were spun in both directions for thousands of years.
Come the industrial revolution, we rapidly discovered ways to omit the resetting half of the cycle. As common as it is to see things rotating continuously now, it was actually an unusual sight for most of history, aside from wheels. For a while we had modern tools that mimicked the oscillation of nature: the power hacksaw, the shaper, the frame-type sawmill, even piston-type engines. One-by-one, they became obsolete, replaced by their more efficient continuously-rotating successors. Even now, piston engines are being replaced by turbines and electric motors. Web pages once had a beginning and end, now many load content as we scroll: there is no end-
This shift certainly has many positive aspects. But we find ourselves, our own bodies, trying to continuously rotate. We try to match our continuously rotating surroundings, to find ourselves ill and sad as a result.
Regressing in our technology at this would do far more harm than good, but we need to remember that we are products of nature. Half of the time is for resetting: sleeping, sitting, breathing out, looking at the sky, and pooping.
Please take care--our lives depend on it
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