still, they use disposable diapers, they're really into chemical fertilizers, they use genetically modified crops, ok? So, they're very, very selective, but the reason why I'm not Amish is for, because they only do one half of it. They're trying to minimize the technology in their lives, but they're not trying to maximize the technology for others. They're actually dependant on us to do that. I think we have to do both. I am interested in minimizing my selection while I maximize the larger pool for others to choose from,
And my version of this was this Amish lady. So I started wearing Amish clothes and a bonnet and going around to tech conferences and startup places and basically just asking people very Socratic and existential questions, trying to get into the bigger meaning of what they were doing.
I've spent time in Amish country. I have an Amish newspaper here with me, actually, if anyone wants to see. It's very funny, because they advertise for phones, but they advertise for plain phones in the newspaper.
So it's not complete tech abstinence, but you're really looking at ways in which you have these beta testers. So people with an Amish community will test a particular technology before it's rolled out for the entire community to use, and that's to make sure that the community understands the effect of that technology.
And that's what I was growing up. So compared to the Amish we were really liberal. But by all means very, very conservative farm community.
So we're going to have a pasta dinner. And the Amish community is now having problems like we're used to.
Sci-fi thriller, like I said, I put these generally in the same category. I find the Amish to be very interesting in this case, because I never thought that the Amish could use cell phones,
ERIC B. SCHOOMAKER: Yeah, if I could if I could just respond, also-- take everything that Amishi just said, and put it in the context of that first responder or that team that's taking care of COVID patients right now. Suddenly the world is upside down for them.
So I did blue with brown on top, printed them, and they actually just use latex paint. And I used an idea-- the Amish people are incredible quilters, and way back when they used to do a lot of stuff
We were making fun of Bowie a little bit earlier, but there's a lot of good folks that have experimented with alter egos themselves. And my version of this was this Amish lady. So I started wearing Amish clothes and a bonnet and going around to tech conferences and startup places and basically just asking people very Socratic and existential
And it also in part comes from a real love of Amish people. I've spent time in Amish country. I have an Amish newspaper here with me, actually, if anyone wants to see.
So it's like as simple as possible, where you can't get apps and you can't text message and you can only have credit phone systems. And in many of these Amish communities-- Kevin Kelly has written about this extensively-- you really have slow adoption of technology. So it's not complete tech abstinence, but you're really looking at ways in which you have these beta testers.
And also really combating this idea of the Lone Ranger type of entrepreneur in favor of more collaborative entrepreneurship, which you see more in Luddite communities and Amish communities. And for me personally, the alter ego gave me the ability to really deconstruct my own personality.
were actually holding. And so how do we give ourselves not just permission, but also build accountability with peers to do some of that investigation? Even when I stayed with an Amish family, there was one particular woman who was serving us all dinner,
So we're going to have a pasta dinner. They would run in their traditional Amish clothing.
So we're going to have a pasta dinner. They would run through the Amish fields.
So we're going to have a pasta dinner. They can run in their Amish clothing.
Take, for example, yesterday's New York Times Magazine article titled "Oakland, the Last Refuge of Radical America." It calls Oakland quote "a kind of Amish village for retro-radicals." And it portrays Oakland as overrun with anarchists, communists, ineffective city leadership, and aging radicals. Essentially, it portrays Oakland as a retirement home for radicals.
We're really lucky. I'm gonna burp. weird petri dish of his strange Amish family--clannish, Nazi family, and his survival of the fittest,
of mindfulness practice. It's not determined, at least, by current neuroscience to completely take over our day. If you read somebody like Amishi Jha, who's got a lab at University of Miami, she says 12 minutes a day. And because she's a friend and we tease each other, I said to her, I don't know if it's that healthy to go for the bare minimum.
ERIC B. SCHOOMAKER: Well, I mean, your audience heard her credentials. Who wouldn't want to work with Amishi Jha, quite frankly? She's a remarkable person as a scientist and as a practical thinker and the translation in science.
And I'm curious, either for both of you. Maybe this is a question for Amishi. What are the core skills that we're really teaching troops here that we're seeing being put into play within an environment like that?
It's certain times of life, too. Every culture, from the Amish to the Maasai, has coming of age rituals that, at their core, are the same as any bar mitzvah, quinciñera, or sweet 16 you've ever been to-- not to mention the vast array of human ways to welcome a newborn, marry a couple, or honor the dead.
And so that's been a really fun way of really provoking that scene and asking hard questions. And it also in part comes from a real love of Amish people. I've spent time in Amish country.
the effect of that technology. And so I've gone around and talked to in my Amish persona about the power of buttermilk. And part of the power of buttermilk is the power of tradition, in that we don't always need to be innovating, but that somethings
I was born and raised in Pennsylvania. And if you've ever been to the Amish Country in Pennsylvania, the ultra, ultra conservatives, the Amish -- they haven't accepted any new technology since 1869. And then there's the Mennonites who are, like, really conservative, but less so than the Amish .
So we're going to have a pasta dinner. Literally, four or five Amish runners.
So we're going to have a pasta dinner. And I'm in this barn with 500 Amish people, and four of them run.
So we're going to have a pasta dinner. I think-- yeah. That Amish kid is finishing a half marathon.
Sci-fi thriller, like I said, I put these generally in the same category. He talks about how they will ingest technology into Amish society, and their sole, very purposeful direction there is to make sure that it doesn't break up
It's actually rapid serial unitasking. And I think there are enough studies to know-- and Amishi, correct me if I'm wrong-- that at the end of the day, 1 plus 1 plus 1 is something less than 3. We don't do any of those tasks as well.
We haven't seen this degree of threat, really, since HIV or before. And so they're constantly preoccupied with what Amishi said, with their own mortality. It has to be a part of their everyday work.
And it is a war. of leadership. And Amishi, I'm curious.
And it is a war. And I'm curious, Amishi, and Eric.
Actually, speaking of placebos, you write about that a little bit in your book and speak to, I think, the value of-- By the same token, the Amish have what's called Rumspringa, which is when young people are allowed to go out into the modern world
They keep people physically and mentally healthy. And again, I'm not trying to be Amish .
choose things by the limitations that you've been given you will never ever kick ass so I think we kicked ass and I family came over and they all got into the same industry whether it's the Amish or whether it's in you know Buffalo or
Well, I get asked that question a lot. His father's name? Dwide Shrude-- Amish ." And all of a sudden, there was this Amish connection,
And that brings me to alter egos. Another artistic project that I've been exploring is a character called the Amish futurist. And there's a lot of good heritage.
So we're going to have a pasta dinner. And then they asked me to come back and speak to the entire Amish community about running.
So we're going to have a pasta dinner. In that short period of time, the Amish community just embraced running.
So we're going to have a pasta dinner. And now, why would the Amish really want to run?
Sci-fi thriller, like I said, I put these generally in the same category. And talking to Kevin Kelly-- Kevin Kelly's this great expert on the Amish , that's why he's got the beard I guess, but he-- when he was writing
I mean, the FDA is raiding Amish communities right now. It's, and they've been doing this for hundreds of years. They're raiding. They arrest them. It's pretty sad. Sad, sad state
Pennsylvania which is a very conservative, Amish area. He himself is not from an Amish family but was very close to it. But he was kind of an independent soul and had his own
the impact of these practices on well-being. I'd like to introduce Dr. Amishi Jha. She's an associate professor of psychology at the University of Miami and director of Contemplative Neuroscience for the Mindfulness Research and Practice
And Eric, really kind of curious of your crossover. And first of all, how did you and Amishi first get connected? And how did this play out in the work that you do?
Actually, speaking of placebos, you write about that a little bit in your book and speak to, I think, the value of-- And the funny thing is that the majority of them choose to come back and be Amish .
And camel milk. Camel milk is another thing that I have been evangelizing and forcing people to try. We profile camel milk in the book a bit, looking at the ways in which Amish camel milk farmers around the US are distributing camel milk. It's now a product that's available in Whole Foods here in California, for example.
Where I live in Bhutan and Nepal, like here in this Amish community in the United States, when time comes to build a house, everybody comes.