What do we lose when we lose the old ways?

The past is the road to the future.

“Is it worth knowing how to carve wood or throw a pot? Is it worth keeping typewriters and buggy whips around?”

If the system fails, knowing the old ways will be a great boon to you!

@davidbetterman posted while I was composing my answer, and actually said it better than I could. That is the practical reason.

Then there is the aesthetic reason. I love working with wood, or playing on a purely acoustic musical instrument, and singing in such a way that my voice would (theoretically) fill a concert hall without a microphone. I have a friend who brews home-made mead. You can hardly find true mead in a liquor store, most of it is mead (honey-flavored) wine.

If we had forgotten the old ways, we would have been deprived of all the wonderful micro-brews and craft brewed beers that are available to us.

There are many types of food that are now considered delicacies, that were developed as a preserving method by the poorest of the poor.

It depends on how old the old ways are. I see little value to keeping around intermediary technologies like punch cards, except as historic relics in a few museums to inform us as to how we arrived at where we are now, but @Yetanotheruser and @davidbetterman both make good cases for preserving older technologies that can be useful in producing things that are aesthetically different from those produced by modern technology and to preserve knowledge about how to survive in a worst case scenario. I would also argue that there is a conservation case to be made for many old ways, such as free range and organic farming practices, as well as handcrafts such as the examples above.

What we gain is history and experience .

I am the old ways.
I have a connection to the past that I cannot explain.
The very fact that some would think we do not need this connection hurts my heart.

I think I just revealed myself in a way that could also hurt me

It’s been common practice in many cultures throughout history to blame inexplicable diseases on the most unattractive woman in the community and then brutally murder her. Was there spiritual value in that practice? What did we lose by stopping that practice? Or is the value more practical?

Have we stopped it?

Depends on how well the old way in question worked. I don’t miss canabalism, or witch hunting, or the dark ages, or feudalism very much at all. Some of the darling concepts of conservatives today are no more valid than those. Some old ways are ways that work well, and should be preserved—at least for now.

WHere you get into trouble is when you turn your mind off and cling to old ways to avoid having to think about what does and doesn’t work in the face of the challenges of today and tomorrow. “A conservative is a man who believes that nothing should be done for the first time.”—Alfred E. Wiggam

@elenuial there are many practices throughout history that have been bad and evil.
Just because there was some bad stuff, doesn’t mean it was all bad.
We mustn’t throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Watch the movie “The Time Machine”.

We do not want to become Eloi.

@elenuial now we just kill the poor. the more things change…

For me, I keep some of the old ‘ways’ alive because it makes me feel connected. In the digital era I’ve found I miss the self-sufficiency and tactile feedback the old ways give me.

Plus, when the revolution comes I’ll be ready. anyone loan me some tinfoil? I seem to have run out.

@ChazMaz True Dat

Lots of old ways of doing things become new art. Others should be revisited from time to time to see if they can be modernized… and are often much more efficient than their modern counterparts! Some of these old ideas should be left for history though, and the sorting of what goes into what pile is often the source of mild political strife.

There is some value in old formsof artistic expression. ‘Preserving’ certain customs or artifacts or teachings,However, many things are destined to be lost, extinct, just like the dinosaurs. I have renounced many of my old belief systems and parted with much material ‘stuff’ that only enslaves one to it’s maintainance. I think this is a natural evoloution for many as they grow in age and wisdom. Eastern philosophies claim that all suffering results from attachment to things, a desire for others to fulfill us. Life is a constant movement of change and all is impermanant. Not to say that playing with the world of ‘form’ cannot be fun, as long as one is not over identified with their attachments. I prefer to work less, spend my money on travel and taking space and live in a small home that does not require much attention. Small house, lots of outdoor space and while I am watching a lot of my friends dump the big $‘s on cosmetic procedures to shore up their sagging egos and other body parts, I just smile, kick back in my hot tub and pop the cork on some good wine. Let the parts fall where they may! lol
Everything including our physical form is already in a state of decay….one cannot cling to anything ‘forever’, I have a friend that is a borderline hoarder, cannot part with any-thing….it’s sad how many have this issue. Hold on loosely!

@Coloma I am trying to follow your path.

Form and grace seems to have been replaced by impatience and greed. Smell the roses has been replaced by “gotta have it now! I miss the good old days!

My life path or my non-linear thinking? lol
I have a tendancy to wander waay far from the porch before I work my way back to the rocking chair. hahahaha

“The old ways” were once new ways that replaced older ways. How far back in the caves do you want to go, anyway?

I have no problem with people holding onto practices and technology that are comfortable and that work for them, but I see no reason to do that “just to do it”, either. After all, humans once invented all of the “old ways”, and can (and will) do so again when we need to—with various success rates and learning curves, true, but… we’re adaptable, so we adapt.

We lose institutional memory, and for that reason, an irretrievable portion of our culture, however small.

The “old ways” can be very useful.

Especially if the “new ways” stop working for whatever reason.

A wealth of knowledge that is replaced with the ignorance of youth.

It’s always good to preserve what we know, even if it seems to have no immediate use. It’s part of our history and as such, should at least be maintained for the sake of chronicling.

If all fails, it can come in quite handy, since old ways are usually rudimentary blueprints for what we use today.

But even without that, I still have all my old VHS movies, and ain’t givin’ em up even if I don’t watch em anymore. >_>

It’s a very good idea to know how to do things without machines. It ties us to the earth a little more which is always good. Though I admit I don’t build a fire to bake bread!

I’ve read that there is some evidence that there were many inventions in the past that were lost. In one example, the ancient aztecs had toys with wheels on them, yet never build full size carts to make their lives easier. The ancient Greeks used steam to power machines and toys, but the methods never came down to us. The ancient people of India has a thorough understanding of engineering, hydrology and sanitation, but it is lost in the dust of crumbling ruins.

@YARNLADY Not to mention some ancient wonders like the Babylon Battery. I have a suspicion that there has been more technology lost and rediscovered than our current “mainstream” history can acknowledge.