Preliminary note: This website is based on the philosophy of Ivan Illich, but it was inspired to an equal if not greater extent by the Whole Earth Catalog (WEC). The first Whole Earth Catalog was published in 1968, five years before the publication of Illich’s "Tools for Conviviality." (...)

The theme of appropriate technology is closely related to that of convivial tools. E.F. Schumacher, the best known advocate of appropriate technology, published "Small is Beautiful" in 1972, the same year that Illich published "Tools for Conviviality". Both books present the case for an (...)