For the past 100 years the Amish have resisted new technological advancements like the television and the automobile. But during the same time they've welcomed modern medicine to treat serious diseases, which do not impede their sense of community. Why?

Jameson Wetmore is an engineer and social researcher at the Arizona State University's School for the Future of Innovation in Society. He has studied the Amish intensively, and their perspective on technology. He commented recently in an interview:

The reason the Amish rejected television is because it is a one-way conduit to bring another society into their living rooms. And they want to maintain the society as they have created it. And the automobile as well. As soon as you have a car, your ability to leave your local community becomes significantly easier. You no longer have to rely on your neighbor for eggs when you run out. You can literally take half an hour and run to the store. In a horse and buggy, when you don't have your own chickens, that's a half-day process.

I asked one Amish person why they didn't use automobiles. He simply smiled and turned to me and said, "Look what they did to your society." And I asked what do you mean? "Well, do you know your neighbor? Do you know the names of your neighbors?" And, at the time, I had to admit to the fact that I didn't.