Amish 2.0 began in a minivan outside a Blockbuster that no longer exists. A few friends had spent the evening watching a chatbot write a wedding toast, a legal brief, and a sonnet about someone's dog, and nobody could say what was left for people to do. Then a flip phone buzzed in the cupholder, and for the first time all night, something felt right.

We looked to the Amish, who drew a line around the modern world and lived happily on the near side of it. We admired the discipline and kept the idea: pick a moment and hold it. Where they stopped at the buggy, we chose a more generous cutoff, midnight on December 31, 1999, the night the computers were supposed to end the world and didn't.

The rule is simple. We adopt a technology only after it has been retired, and not one day sooner. Nintendo, the flip phone, and dial-up all passed inspection by unanimous vote of the congregation. Anything newer is held for review, which may take decades.