There’s truth to this interpretation, but it misses a whole other side to Thoreau’s experiment. He had also been working out a new theory of economics that attempted to push back against the worst dehumanizing effects of industrialization. To help validate his theory, he needed more data, and his time spent by the pond was designed in large part to become a source of this needed information. It’s important for our purposes to understand this more pragmatic side to Walden, as Thoreau’s often overlooked economic theory provides a powerful justification for our first principle of minimalism: that
...more
