The term "deep ecology" usually refers to an uncompromising emphasis on the importance of nature in the defining and bounding of human life: We should not tread too hard on nature, we should not try too hard to remake nature in our own image, we should not imagine that our species is any more important than any other. It is a philosophy of humility as well as a plea for a radical restructuring of the way our civilization views the world around us as a resource, rather than as a context.
So, it is not surprising that most deep ecologists oppose new technology and yearn for a simpler life in which community is not mediated through images and machines.
But technology can also bring us closer to nature. The more technology we have, the more we depend on nature, the more resources we need, and the more energy we must find to keep our intensive lifestyle afloat. Environmentalism can emerge only in a culture that realizes natural resources are limited.
If deep ecology suggests that concern for interrelatedness leads to a reformation of the guiding ideas of our culture, then perhaps "deep technology" would emphasize how technology extends human insight, bringing us closer to nature, whose mysteries we will never fully understand.
Consider a musical instrument. By connecting human dexterity to the natural behavior of sound waves, this tool allows people to express ideas, emotions, and visions in a new way. But the instrument does not contain the music. It allows us to express beauty by appearing transparent. This transparency characterizes the best tools we have.
Technology is empty if it considers only itself. Deep technology relates user and context in an ecological, symbiotic way. It does not hide us from the world and does not teach us to feel more powerful than we really are.
