A similar thing I heard about the amish, is that it is not that they are anti technology, it is that they Don't want technology they can't control, basically if unable to make from raw materials they don't want it.
Now I don't think this is entirely the way things are, I suspect there is a core of truth with a lot of religion and tradition surrounding it. But I have a lot of sympathy for wanting to have the freedom that control over your environment grants you. Personally I would hate to give up my tech. and remain a willing slave to the manufactures.
It's impossible, even for Feynman, to understand how to create everything. In your example the Amish idea of "we" is religious bias — each Amish individual doesn't know how to create everything, they choose to rely only on other Amish, shunning the knowledge of others. "we" can also take on patriotic bias, as in, "we" don't build anything anymore because it's all made in China, thus excluding China from that "we". The fading globalist dream of the 90s was that "we" could include everybody on our little planet.
That's not really true about the Amish. I've never heard that interpretation. It is more complicated than and Amish do use technology in limited ways but it boils down to not wanting to disrupt their family with technology and also the complicated process of integrating new technology into their lifestyles.
> it is that they Don't want technology they can't control, basically if unable to make from raw materials they don't want it.
Lots of Amish farmers use a computer. They just keep it separate, and don't let it invade their home and decide their life.
Think landline phone on a farm, but also the phone is in an outdoor phone booth and used only for unavoidable things like ordering seeds, not socially.
Now I don't think this is entirely the way things are, I suspect there is a core of truth with a lot of religion and tradition surrounding it. But I have a lot of sympathy for wanting to have the freedom that control over your environment grants you. Personally I would hate to give up my tech. and remain a willing slave to the manufactures.