What if We Replace Guns and Bullets with Bows and Arrows? | LOW←TECH MAGAZINE

The bicycle and the bow are both highly efficient, human-powered technologies that could substitute for two very harmful alternatives: the car and the firearm. Why do we promote one but not the other?

Image: University of Chicago students practice archery. Image by Bardon, Emmet. University of Chicago Library, Special Collections Research Center . View original image View dithered image Subscribe to our newsletter . Support Low-tech Magazine via Paypal or Patreon Read Low-tech Magazine offline . Why did firearms and bullets replace bows and arrows? To many, this sounds like a stupid question with an obvious answer: the firearm succeeded the bow because it’s a superior weapon. Let’s investigate. Strength and skills Hand-held firearms are usually assessed or compared in terms of performance c

related reading

• LOW←TECH MAGAZINEsolar.lowtechmagazine.com
• What is Technology? — Letters to a Young Technologistletterstoayoungtechnologist.com
• The future of war is the future of societysubstack.com
• All non-drone militaries are obsoletenoahpinion.blog
• Why bullpup rifles failed to make it?thefiringline.com
• Technological Wishlistansonyu.me
• How Civilization Started | The New Yorkernewyorker.com
• Bicycle – Bartosz Ciechanowskiciechanow.ski
• Defense Tech Shouldn’t Be Sexyevery.to
• A Human on a Bicycle Is among the Most Efficient Forms of Travel in the Animal Kingdom | Scientific Americanscientificamerican.com
• Show your hands honor for the strange power they bring you – Areslunaaresluna.org
• Only Law Can Prevent Extinction — LessWronglesswrong.com