Line #35 Main/SpaceAmish


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4	[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/space_amish.png]]]]
5	[[caption-width-right:350:No machines are permitted on the Amish Homeworld.]]
6
7	->''"[He was] Techno Amish. They use machinery and operating systems up to Windows XP. ''[...]'' When you have airlocks to maintain and the atmosphere of a planet will kill you, it changes what you need for a simple life."''
8	-->-- '''Winston Scudder Thurmad''', about his father Gregor Mendel Thurmad, ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}''
9
10	A SubTrope of SpaceRomans, Space Amish are another FantasyCounterpartCulture [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace ...in space]]. Like their namesakes, the UsefulNotes/{{Amish}} (found mainly in the midwestern United States and parts of the Canadian prairies) and the closely related Mennonites, who voluntarily [[EnforcedTechnologyLevels eschew most forms of modern technological conveniences,]] Space Amish are an offshoot of a technologically advanced race who have rejected most forms of advanced tech in favor of an agricultural life.
11
12	Space Amish have generally found themselves a nice pastoral {{Arcadia}} somewhere and settled down in pursuit of a [[GoodIsOldFashioned simple life]]. They're usually isolated and are quite likely to be a LostColony. Space Amish are defined by having very limited or primitive technology [[SchizoTech in explicit contrast with the extensive technology of the universe around it]], though just how limited or primitive their technology is can vary widely.
13
14	Often, the settlers will actually have knowledge of, or even be highly skilled with, the same level of technology as everyone else; they simply choose not to exercise it (whilst never actually losing that knowledge). The settlement also enjoys a surpassing level of peace, with the implication -- rarely stated outright -- that [[GoodOldWays the lack of technology is the actual source of the peace]]. In other words, ScienceIsBad. For this reason, it can also be called a "[[LuddWasRight Luddite Utopia]]".
15
16	As with any {{utopia}}, there's usually a catch to Luddite Utopia: for example, upon arrival, it may be [[CityInABottle impossible for visitors to ever leave]]. Or, if it's a CultColony, you may have to convert to the local religion -- which tends to be strict if not joyless. Or human culture may be stagnant. Or you may have to share your body with parasitic alien spores. Or you have to actually [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking put in an honest day's work for your supper]]. Or your descendants may discover that others have it easier and regret the settlers' unilateral decision.
17
18	Space Amish settlements might have a SuperweaponSurprise in store for invaders -- because, really, who better to guard the LostSuperweapon than people who reject technology and don't want to conquer anybody? Even if they don't, though, wider galactic society is usually not interested in crushing Space Amish communities: they tend to be too poor and too boring to be worth conquering. [[MoralEventHorizon Only the evillest of despots try it]].
19
20	!!Compare with:
21
22	* LostColony: Space Amish voluntarily eschew technology, while Lost Colonies tend to have simply fallen behind galactic state-of-the-art due to crash landing on a planet or because they are out of contact with Earth. Space Amish and Lost Colony can, of course, overlap; in fact, it's fairly common.
23	* CultColony: The rejection of technology may be based in a strict religious ideal, in which case, this trope may overlap with a cult colony.
24	* HiddenElfVillage: Space Amish usually just stay out of society's way rather than actively rejecting it, and most are not actively hostile to outsiders. Still, it's a small step for a Space Amish community to become a Hidden Elf Village.
25	* PastoralScienceFiction: Science fiction set in rural or natural areas.
26	* PerfectPacifistPeople: A group of people who insist on non-violence.
27
28	!!Contrast with:
29
30	* SpaceElves: Another CloserToEarth space society, but Space Elves are almost always aliens, while Space Amish almost never are, and Space Elf technology tends to be quite advanced, albeit developed along different lines relative to human technology.
31	* SpaceCossacks: While Space Cossacks are also a FantasyCounterpartCulture and rebels and/or dropouts from mainstream galactic society, they tend to be technology-neutral if not pro-technology, and they are definitely not pacifists.
32	* SpaceJews: An alien culture built on a much less sympathetic stereotype of an Earth culture.
33	* SufficientlyAdvancedBambooTechnology: When a civilization appears to be like this, but actually isn't.
34
35	----
36	!!Examples
37	[[foldercontrol]]
38
39	[[folder:Anime]]
40	* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ'' has the Moon-Moon colony which was cut off from the rest of space during the war from [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam the previous series]] (''less than ten years before!'') where most people have forgotten how to use technology & believe that mobile suits are gods.
41	* ''Anime/LastExile'' is set on a world with an approximate 18th-19th century level of technology. There are occasional glitches and suspicions of SchizoTech, like using steam-powered guns (which are, reasonably, much worse than [[{{Pun}} gunpowdered]] ones), fashions ranging from Baroque to 1930s styles, or the anti-gravity engines used in their planes/blimps. Which appear to be powered by antimatter. ''That washes ashore''. As it turns out, there are reasons for this: [[spoiler:Ship-to-ship combat is judged by a Guild that maintains ships several tech levels higher than the rest of the planet -- using laser cannon, no less -- and provide most of the anachronistic technology used in the series. It later turns out that the ''entire planet'' is an artifact, an hourglass-shaped construct where they live on the inside; the sun and stars are fake, and in the middle of the connecting throat (the "Grand Stream") lies the kilometer-sized ship that was used to create it, the titular Exile. Whether it was the original intention or the result of their later civil war, the Guild exists to monitor and maintain the planet (they've been doing a bad job, lately) and, notably, keep the rest of the inhabitants' tech level down. Since said Guild is destroyed in the final episode, things should get interesting in the future.]]
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder:Comic Books]]
45	* There are several instances of this in ''Franchise/TheDCU'', interestingly involving [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Kryptonians]].
46	** The Kryptonians themselves, while a highly advanced civilization technologically, had a very closed culture, to the point of having built a device, the Eradicator, to assist in keeping them cut off from the rest of the universe, even introducing genetic modifications to make life offworld nearly impossible.
47	** While they have and use advanced technology, the Daxamites are ''very'' isolationist to the point of xenophobia and have strong cultural taboos against certain technologies, such as anything related to space travel.
48	** In the Threeboot continuity of the Legion of Super-Heroes, the enlarged Kandor is like this in that the entire place is essentially under self-imposed quarantine to preserve the last remnants of Kryptonian culture. No one's allowed to leave because if they found a world with a yellow sun, they'd become super and never come back; no one's allowed in because the entire rest of the universe knows this and doesn't exactly think that first part is a good idea.
49	* Smiley's World in ''ComicBook/StrontiumDog'' -- while advanced technology is present, the planet is so remote that obtaining it is expensive, so people outside the large cities live a mostly agrarian lifestyle. While it isn't entirely without problems, it's one of the better planets in the galaxy.
50	* The forest-dwelling Primmies (Primitives) in Doug Moench's 1980s comic ''ComicBook/ElectricWarrior'' have chosen to flee the cities not just to get back to nature, but because the cities in that world are class warfare nightmares where the slum dwellers live like vermin.
51	* The ''Magazine/NationalLampoon'' had "Amish in Space", a comic-book format story by Brian [=McConnachie=] -- a typical midwestern rural Amish family floats around in a sci-fi rocket ship, displaying the stoic purposeful behaviour of their kind. It's as pointlessly absurd as it sounds.
52	[[/folder]]
53
54	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
55	* ''Film/StarTrekInsurrection'' portrays the Ba'ku, inhabitants of a world whose radiation keeps them forever young. They claim to be capable of producing and using warp technology, but they don't bother with it.
56	* The planet Akir in ''Film/BattleBeyondTheStars'' verges on this, although it appears to be mostly because they're really, really ''poor'' rather than any particular desire to live the simple, agrarian life. They seem perfectly comfortable about the one spaceship they do have, and the other spacecraft and aliens who come to their aid.
57	* The people in ''Film/TheGreenBeautiful'' (French: La Belle Verte) are an advanced race capable of instantaneous space travel who live in rural happy communities on their home planet.
58	[[/folder]]
59
60	[[folder:Literature]]
61	%%* Features prominently and very literally in the novel ''Amish Vampires in Space''.%%Administrivia/ZeroContentExample
62	%%* The Osu in ''Literature/ChungKuo''.%%Administrivia/ZeroContentExample
63	* In the futurist book ''2081'', a non-fiction text with an incorporated fiction thread, residents in the fictional narrator's colony have opted not to use much technology more complicated than a bicycle in their daily lives, despite living inside an immense space station. In-character, this is to ensure that they can be self-sufficient far from the Earth; out of character, it gives the author a protagonist who can be as surprised/impressed as the reader, when he visits Earth and sees its advanced devices for the first time.
64	* The premise of ''Literature/AlienInASmallTown'' is that hundreds of years from now, the Pennsylvania Dutch will continue living much as they do now, even as the rest of the world changes enormously.
65	* In ''Literature/AlwaysComingHome'', the Kesh people have access to all of mankind's knowledge and are sharing Earth with A.I.s. However, they are an agricultural and foraging society, and are only using technology on a level they can easily maintain (which includes solar batteries, a steam train and some looms).
66	* Allen Kim Lang's "Blind Man's Lantern" is about an Amish couple who, faced with a lack of available land on future Earth, emigrate to a low-tech planet called Murna whose original settlers, curiously enough, were apostates from Islam.
67	* In the ''Literature/ChaosWalking'' series, the trope is attempted but failed by the first settlers. They get rid of most of their technology but absolutely fail the peaceful part.
68	* ''Literature/TheCulture'' provides an interesting example. In this universe, once civilizations reach a certain level of technological and social advancement, it is normal for them to AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence and stop interfering with events in the physical world. The Culture is considered backwards (and frankly rather childish) for refusing to do so despite having long passed the point where they could have. This makes for an odd case where the SpaceAmish are actually by far the most advanced civilization active in their galaxy.
69	* In ''Literature/{{Darkover}}'', the human colonists on the titular planet have developed a [[FeudalFuture feudal culture]] and general level of technology. The aristocracy has and uses [[PsychicPowers psionics]] and [[PowerCrystal "matrix technology"]], which can do things that even the advanced technology of space-faring humans can't duplicate. But use of these is highly limited, and the Darkovans have a strong cultural resistance to Terran attempts to introduce regular technology into their society. It was initially patterned as a fantasy series, being revealed later in the series as a LostColony of spacefaring Earth at roughly the same time as it became a Found Colony.
70	* ''The Golden Globe'' from the ''Literature/EightWorlds'' series includes genuine Amish living on the moon. They are just like the real Amish in that they are they are neither ignorant of nor resistant to the modern world surrounding them, they're just very particular about which aspects of that world they choose to accept.
71	* In the ''Literature/GreenSkyTrilogy'', there is very little in the way of technological advancement, at least among the Kindar. Partly {{justified\|Trope}} in that the Kindar are somewhat limited by not having fire (reasonably enough, for a tree-dwelling society) and being forbidden from using metals, glass, and other material from the forest floor or underground. Their social order isn't really encouraging of innovation, either, although Genaa's father is known for developing new technology including "an efficient new sanitation system". That must have been a relief. Green-Sky also lacks warfare and crime, which leaves out many technological developments that started from making better and nastier ways to hurt and kill people.
72	* Creator/PeterFHamilton has used this trope a few times.
73	** In ''Literature/TheNightsDawnTrilogy'', Norfolk is one of the more pastoral planets, with legal limits on technological imports. Although it's not ''entirely'' backwards, as a power grid and transportation network do exist.
74	** In ''Fallen Dragon'', the Wilfrien are an advanced alien race who chose to "look inward" once they knew all there was to know about the universe. This translates into living simple pastoral lives among the decaying ruins of their cities.
75	** In the ''Literature/CommonwealthSaga'', the race that created the Dyson sphere confining the Primes split into those who used their incredibly advanced technology to transcend physical existence, and those who chose to remain behind on their homeworld and live simple lives.
76	** Also in the Commonwealth Saga, the inhabitants of Huxley's Haven have essentially paused their society at about a late 20th century level of tech (plus a wormhole connection to the rest of humanity which doesn't really get used very much).
77	* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'':
78	** Partial example: Grayson was founded as this type of colony. However, by the time of the books, the people had decided that technology was a good thing, and desired current tech. Trying to colonize [[DeathWorld a planet with an environment so toxic that breathing the air suffices to poison unmodified humans]] and having to build farms in orbit to grow food that ''won't'' slowly poison you will do that.
79	** At one point in its history, Grayson had a civil war brought about by zealots who thought the main government wasn't eschewing technology ''enough.'' The zealots lost the war and were exiled to the neighboring star system of Masada, which at the time of the books is even more primitive than Grayson.
80	** The planet Refuge in the short story "In the Service of the Sword", set in the same universe, played it much straighter. Due to low-tech of its inhabitants, this star system was used as a staging base by the SpacePirates.
81	* {{Deconstructed\|Trope}} in Creator/MikeResnick's novel/short story collection ''Literature/{{Kirinyaga}}''. In an attempt to preserve the traditional pre-colonial Kikuyu ways of life, a group of immigrants from 2130s Kenya tries to create the titular utopian society on a {{terraform}}ed planetoid by enforcing AppealToTradition in the most literal and rigid way possible, with hefty dose of [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocrisy]] needed to maintain the "traditional" order over and over again - often by tricks, force and eventually, open brutality. Not surprising, it fails spectacularly in mere 20 years, but the cracks are there right from the start and many decide to go back to Kenya even sooner. The society itself, while simple and rural, also does it to the extreme, as only traditional Kikuyu techniques are allowed, which means back-breaking labour of farming with a wooden hoe, using plants that can barely survive in the recreated biome in the first place.
82	* ''Literature/TheLastColony'' has Space Mennonites mixed in with the rest of the Roanoke colonists. They are willing to use technology up to internal combustion, but not electronics, which is important as the colony can't use electronics or risk detection by the Conclave.
83	* The Keepers from ''Literature/LastSacrifice'' live in secluded, old-fashioned areas and consider the rest of Moroi and dhampirs to be "Tainted" for accepting the modern world. Somewhat subverted in that they have no problem with technology, as they drive cars. They have a problem with the modern political system in effect in the Moroi world.
84	* Creator/AnneMcCaffrey:
85	** In ''Literature/DragonridersOfPern'', Pern was originally founded as this type of colony; this led to complications during the first Pass of Thread attacking the planet, and eventually led to an even more primitive culture than the colonists had planned. Pern is also a LostColony, though there's a strong implication that the parent society wouldn't care anyway -- space travel is slower than light in that universe, and folks expect to leave the planet of their birth behind forever when they leave on a colonization trip.
86	** One short story establishes Pern as existing in the same setting as ''Literature/TheShipWho'', which has developed FasterThanLightTravel since the colonization of Pern. However, an early exploratory mission landed there after the Southern continent was abandoned and found only a single family living there, who claimed all the settlers were dead. This led to Pern being marked as extremely dangerous and the rest of the universe simply steering clear.
87	* The eponymous planet in the ''Literature/MajipoorSeries'' is [[MetalPoorPlanet very poor in metals]]. Its inhabitants do remember their ancestors came from the stars, they do know of other worlds, even travellers from other stars appear occasionally, but in general there's no outside contacts. All advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic (and some is even called that) and most of it involves PsychicPowers. Save for vibroblades, electronic books and engines maintaining atmosphere atop the Castle Mount (normally exposed to space vacuum) the tech is more or less medieval. And despite all Majipoor's troubles and hostilities, there's been no homicide for millennia, at least by the start of ''Lord Valentine's Castle''.
88	* {{Subverted\|Trope}} in ''Literature/TheQuantumThief''. The purported low-tech barbarians of Oort and the embracers of outdated flesh and blood on Mars all use technology that is incredibly advanced from the modern perspective and count as {{Transhuman}} to one extent or another. Just because these people embrace the ways of the past doesn't mean it's past from the readers' perspective.
89	* ''Literature/{{Refugees}}'': There is a debate over whether the new arrivals to the compound on the new planet should be allowed to use technology; strict limits are placed on it. Those who have been living on the planet for a long time see no need for technology.
90	* In the ''Literature/RevelationSpaceSeries'', the technological progress on Sky's Edge is centuries behind as a result of constant warfare; when a trading vessel enters the system, the planet's inhabitants only buy weapons.
91	* In ''Literature/{{Safehold}}'', the star-going empire of humanity is attacked by a race of AbsoluteXenophobe aliens and would have been doomed had they not managed to hide one colony ship from the aliens. The original mission plan is for the colony to stay low-tech for a few hundred years to avoid detection by the aliens, but the people put in charge of the colony are megalomaniac Luddites who start a religion in an attempt to keep the colony low-tech forever (as well as making themselves into "Archangels").
92	* {{Deconstructed\|Trope}} in ''Literature/{{Schismatrix}}''. Earth chose this route and is portrayed as a horrible CrapsackWorld for the half-chapter that it appears.
93	* ''Slow Train to Arcturus'' by Creator/EricFlint and Creator/DaveFreer is a {{Deconstruction}} of many of these ideas. The Government specifically wanted to get rid of weirdos and unpopular cultures. The ship is one long string of artificial environments, with all of them breaking apart in a way the other cultures can help fix. There's the new Aryan Brotherhood (who pretty much kill themselves off after using too much boom), New Eden (Amish whose world was built to be very robust but ultimately needs repairs), the Republic of Diana (Dominatrices who genetically engineered men to be 90-pound weaklings and have a very good biology department but whose übertech has been breaking down), Space Indians (they {{lampshade\|Hanging}} that it may have been an act by conman for hundreds of years and who understand computers better than all other groups but don't have a biome suitable for farming) and Daredevil fliers (who love flying with their own cybernetic wings and developed a government based on who wins the speed matches, but whose ecosystem is breaking down), and finally, the ruling caste of the DPRK.
94	* ''Literature/TheStarsMyDestination'' has a colony of asteroid-dwellers who have customs reminiscent of a stereotyped isolated tribe (including rapid arranged marriage, initiation rites and facial tattooing). However, they're called the "Scientific People" (they're the descendants/remnants of a stranded scientific expedition who have undergone a "nativeless" version of GoingNative). They're gentle and welcoming, but they don't want you to leave.
95	* In ''Literature/{{Uglies}}'', there is a tribe that was being kept in Stone Age technology for research, complete with blood feuds and lifespans of forty years.
96	* The second ''Literature/{{Uplift}}'' trilogy focuses on Jijo, an isolated planet illegally colonized by at least six separate species who all had their own reasons for wanting to leave Galactic society, a number of them even seeking to [[FormerlySapientSpecies revert to their pre-Uplift state of sentience]]. They all essentially operate on BambooTechnology, which turns out to include [[spoiler:rockets]].
97	* In ''Literature/AWorldOutOfTime'', the far-future immortal Boys spend the Antarctic summer living as nomadic Stone Age hunters but return to their high-tech cities during the unending darkness of the polar winter.
98	[[/folder]]
99
100	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
101	* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
102	** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E6TheInvasionOfTime The Invasion of Time]]" has the Outsiders, a group of Gallifreyans who live outside the cities on Gallifrey. They don't use technology more advanced than a bow and arrow, despite their race having access to {{time machine}}s.
103	** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E12HellBent Hell Bent]]" includes a village of apparently literal Space Amish just outside the capitol who the Doctor stays with for a while.
104	* Used a number of times in the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' franchise:
105	** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'':
106	*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E24ThisSideOfParadise This Side of Paradise]]", Colonists on a new planet who are expected to be found dead by the Enterprise crew are found alive. They have abandoned their original plans to be space Amish. Except for Captain Kirk, the Enterprise crew abandons their ship and duty in favor of this way of life. Both groups do this due to the influence of euphoria-inducing alien spores.
107	*** "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E26ErrandOfMercy Errand of Mercy]]" features an alien society which has thrived for eons without technological advancement... ''although'' [[spoiler:they really don't need to use technology. They are, after all, SufficientlyAdvancedAliens]].
108	*** "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E20TheWayToEden The Way to Eden]]" features a group seeking a world where they can set up such a society. In the end, it doesn't work out [[spoiler:(both because the planet they've chosen is uninhabitable, and because their leader is a nut)]], but it's interesting that out of the whole crew, the one who is most sympathetic to their goal is [[RoundedCharacter Spock]].
109	** The ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episodes "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E18UpTheLongLadder Up the Long Ladder]]", "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E13DevilsDue Devil's Due]]" and "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E19JourneysEnd Journey's End]]" all feature these.
110	** "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E15Paradise Paradise]]" provides ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'''s trademark DarkerAndEdgier take on the trope when two officers returning from a mission beam down to investigate an old, automated distress call and end up forbidden to use any of their technology to try and return home by the colony's leader, which operates like this. [[spoiler:She's eventually revealed to have sabotaged all technology to keep everyone there.]]
111	** In the ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDiscoveryS2E02NewEden New Eden]]", Lieutenant Owosekun is sent on the mission to the LostColony of Terralysium, given her background growing up in a Luddite collective on Earth.
112	* ''Series/StargateSG1'':
113	** The Nox at first seemed like a Hunter-Gatherer (minus the hunting) society who knew special, [[MagicFromTechnology almost magical]] stealth and regeneration techniques; the TwistEnding was that they had higher technology than even the Goa'uld, but chose to live very close to nature... and look down on anyone who practiced any kind of violence, even in self-defense, without sharing their defense technology that makes such violence unnecessary for them.
114	** In another episode, SG-1 comes across what seems like a stagnated agricultural world that remained primitive and agrarian despite connections to a more advanced race, [[spoiler:the more advanced race actually nerfed what was once a thriving industrial community through sterilization]]
115	* In ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', the Genii have to pretend to be a lot less advanced than they actually are, because the Wraith would pulverize them should they show any signs of being technologically advanced. Now, if only people would learn to keep their secret underground hatches ''locked''...
116	* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'':
117	** This is a fair description of the Rim worlds, though most aren't this way by choice. There was also a colony of religious fanatics, who shunned technology.
118	** There was also a world that was forced to live like the American old west because the colony's resident mega-wealthy civic leader would rather live out his cowboy fantasies than invest anything in developing the economy or improving the local quality of life (although he, hypocritically, had a personal hovercraft and the only personal laser pistol seen on the show).
119	* ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'': On two separate occasions, the crew of the ''Andromeda'' run into cultures who refuse to resort to violence, even when the alternative is being wiped out.
120	* In ''Series/TheStarlost'', hundreds of domed biomes on a slower-than-light colony ship have had most of their connections cut. The heroes are from a Biome of Space Amish whose biome is breaking down due to the entire spaceships malfunctioning.
121	* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' ends with the surviving colonists deciding that technology wasn't worth the downsides, and they settled as SpaceAmish.
122	* Crichton crash-lands on a world of these in ''Series/{{Farscape}}'''s first season, with the twist that [[spoiler: they weren't necessarily agrarian by ''choice'' -- it was the result of a Hynerian ruler wanting to get their ancestors out of the way, so he shipped them to a planet and had some anti-tech installed in a shrine]].
123	* In ''Series/{{Killjoys}}'', Zeph is revealed to be from one of these societies.
124	[[/folder]]
125
126	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
127	* The ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' universe features the periphery government of the Outworlds Alliance. It's composed almost entirely of agrarian worlds with pre-industrial technology, save for a few cities each - with the exception of Home, an Amish ''planet'' that pretty much only allows tech for space travel - and they're quite happy that way. Curiously, they also field the most fearsome aerospace fighter pilots known to mankind, who are really the only things keeping unpleasant conquerors and pirates from setting foot on vulnerable Alliance worlds. To make things even stranger, they [[FireForgedFriends eventually merge with a Clan]], one of the setting's resident, highly technologically advanced, ProudWarriorRaceGuy factions. It works out surprisingly well, since the Clan in question is the Snow Ravens, who disdain land-based military forces in favor of overwhelming air and space superiority and thus respect the OA's ASF pilots while ignoring the planets aside from a few small holdings they establish.
128	* The Hatire Community from ''TabletopGame/StarDrive'' is a quasi-example of this trope. While okay with most technology, they prohibit non-essential cybernetics and generally favor a simpler lifestyle. Granted, CyberneticsEatYourSoul, but only if you abuse it. Strictly speaking the Hatires have a stronger rejection of technology within their faith, but the core principle would be 'technology to the degree that it is necessary' -- and the Hatires are ''very'' aware that if they don't keep up with the other interstellar governments and compromise on some points, they're going to lose ground, let alone ''spread'' the Hatire faith.
129	* ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'', having a big map of highly varied (but often classic-SF-influenced) worlds, inevitably invokes this trope from time to time. For example, Scipio, on the Solomani Rim, was settled by a faction of Terran humans who believe that ever going into space was a mistake, and who deliberately restrict their technology to pre-space flight levels.
130	* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
131	** The Imperium of Man has "feral worlds" and "medieval worlds", often intentionally kept in MedievalStasis or even Stone Age Stasis, the reasoning being that people from such harsh worlds make better soldiers.
132	** There are also the Exodites, Eldar who left their empire before its fall due to their disgust at its decadence. They still have considerable technology, but at this point, even the Imperium would have grounds to call them low tech, although many of them also have stockpiles of the good stuff they don't use except in cases of emergency. They also have dinosaurs to ride.
133	** Orks can potentially hit this trope as well. Due to their reproduction by spores, they will keep popping up on any world invaded by them even if they are defeated. As long as they are only present in small numbers, they will usually be limited to very primitive technology; basically just pointy sticks. It's only once they reach a certain critical mass that Mekboyz will start appearing and building more advanced technology.
134	[[/folder]]
135
136	[[folder:Video Games]]
137	* Hat Kid's spaceship from ''VideoGame/AHatInTime'' has shades of this, being made primarily out of "Space-Resistant Wood". In fact, she calls a diary containing a typical frisbee UFO a "mockery", pointing out that it couldn't be a spaceship as it lacks wood.
138	* Chozo settlements from ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' (or at least what's left) are (were) built to be as close to the environment around them as possible, and as a result look a ''lot'' further down the tech level scale than you would expect. The Chozo, remember, built Samus's incredible PoweredArmor, as well as the machines that recharge it, and were able to alter her DNA during her childhood. They're Space Amish by Choice.
139	** It could be argued that their technology IS highly advanced, but very subtle and unobtrusive to the surroundings as possible. They didn't go low tech, they just designed their tech to not affect the natural surroundings much.
140	** In ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'', [[ScrapbookStory lore scans]] make it clear that the Tallon IV Chozo settlement, at least, did abandon most of their technology to get closer to nature. It ''worked'', too, as they became SufficientlyAdvancedAliens before being yanked back to the planet when the Phazon meteor impacted. Of course, this is still relative; a few of the rooms and corridors of the Chozo Ruins are very technological indeed.
141	* In the ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' universe, specifically the game ''Privateer'' (and its add-on ''Righteous Fire''), the group "The Church of Man" (usually referred to as "Retros" by just about everyone else) is arguably a rather militant variety of SpaceAmish, with their goal to destroy modern civilization to bring in a more "simple" time. Being Wing Commander, this means they fly spaceships, which your job as the main character is often to blow up. Being zealots, anything that advances their goals is acceptable, even if it includes using stolen alien technology to upgrade the weaponry on their spacecraft, some of which were gotten from the [[CatFolk Kilrathi]].
142	* Tazmily Village in ''VideoGame/Mother3'', though it's also [[spoiler:[[AfterTheEnd the only settlement left on Earth]]]].
143	* ''VideoGame/VegaStrike'' has Purists -- a legitimate faction whose ideal is "humanity free of changes to the species". That is, they're happy to get a new ship or other toys, but [[NoTranshumanismAllowed don't like unnecessary cyborgization and genetical meddling]]. Which one more reason of cool internal relations in [[TheFederation Confederation]], given that half of human factions are {{Transhuman}}s. Their ships tend toward "[[MightyGlacier large, armored brick with heavy guns and thrusters bolted on]]".
144	** There's also a splinter group [[{{Expy}} not unlike]] ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' Retros -- "Interstellar Church of True Form's Return", whom almost everyone else [[EvilLuddite hates and calls "Luddites"]], though they are warlike about the changed ways of life rather than technology as such. The only faction they're friendly ''to'' are Purists, who in turn barely tolerate these jerks. On the other hand, Confed [[StateSec Homeland Security]] who crack down on Luddites [[LiteralMetaphor like]] [[http://forums.vega-strike.org/cpg/displayimage.php?album=13&pid=1176 360 tons of steel]] is staffed primarily with Purists too.
145	* The D'ni, primary race of the ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'' series, are the descendants of the Ronay, who fled to a new world when their home was dying. Most went to a huge and lush paradise of a place, but a steadfast few saw issue with the decadence of their culture and went instead to a cavern complex BeneathTheEarth, therein to live in relative simplicity. They've since developed digging and excavating tools the equal of anything made by humans, reactors that can rearrange the atomic structure of rock to form a substance stronger than steel, and retained the Ronay technology to travel to any world in the multiverse simply by describing it clearly in a book. These power might not seem befitting to a simple folk, unless you compare them to the indolent and egotistical culture that the rest of their kind became.
146	* ''VideoGame/{{Starbound}}'': The Glitch, a race of semi-sentient robots with the occasional self-aware individual, were supposed to progress beyond the medieval age, being experiments placed by AbusivePrecursors to see how spacefaring cultures develop. A glitch, as the name indicates, caused them to get stuck around this era, and anyone who tries to make any progress, and/or is self-aware, is branded a heretic and [[BurnTheWitch burned at the stake]] unless they escape.
147	* In ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'':
148	** There's not just one, but ''two'' preset empires based around this trope, the Maweer Caretakers and the Sathyrelian Bliss. Both are generally isolationist empires who distrust outsiders, but are generally peaceful and very dedicated to preserving and nurturing the environment on the worlds they inhabit. This is especially apparent for the Maweer Caretakers, who never even properly urbanized.
149	** With the ''First Contact'' DLC, it is possible to discover a unique [[PerfectPacifistPeople peace-loving]] empire called Habinte Unified Worlds, which inhabits six [[GhibliHills Gaia worlds]] within their star system. In game terms, they are considered an Early Space Age pre-FTL civilization, but [[spoiler:their ability to move planets (they once "robbed" a nearby star system to improve their own) and manipulate hyperlanes suggests that their potential is close to that of [[HigherTechSpecies Fallen Empires]], and in some ways even greater.]] However, they mostly do not use it and prefer to lead a semi-primitive way of life InHarmonyWithNature.
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152	[[folder:Webcomics]]
153	* After almost destroying themselves in a war (and wiping out the dinosaurs in the process), the [[DinosaursAreDragons dragons]] in ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' "spurned the outward trappings of civilization, living more as rustic philosophers." They finally left Earth in the MiddleAges, and now lead a fairly pastoral existence on a [[{{Terraform}} terraformed]] world called [[{{Pun}} Butane]] in the Kuiper Belt.
154	* Subverted in ''Webcomic/EscapeFromTerra'' by a [[http://www.bigheadpress.com/eft?page=461 Mennonite colony on the moon]] that don't shun technology in the slightest.
155	* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' has 26[[superscript:th]]-century [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3200/fc03150.htm Techno Amish]] who use machinery and operating systems up to Windows XP, redefining "the simple life" to survive on a planet where airlocks are required.
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158	[[folder:Web Original]]
159	* The [[ArtificialHuman Synthetic Human Alliance]] of ''Website/OrionsArm'' are explicitly compared to the Old Earth Amish, as they were originally multifunctional bodyguards, nannies and {{Sexbot}}s who found a loophole in their programming: if fleeing from their masters was in the interest of their master's (more specifically, their offspring's) safety, they should do so. After founding the SHA, they created a ludd utopia, with importance placed on communities, hard but fair work, a rejection of vanity and [[FreeLoveFuture pleasure]]. They are surprisingly hi tech, needed to maintain the synthetic half of their population, but have a purely utilitarian view on technology, with 'skillsets' being temporarily lent whenever necessary. They're widely regarded as an example of how a nearbaseline ludd society can work perfectly well by modosophonts and transapients alike.
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162	[[folder:Western Animation]]
163	* The human family in ''WesternAnimation/TheHerculoids''. [[ExpandedUniverse According to]] the comic book ''Comicbook/FutureQuest,'' they're refugees from a RobotWar who wanted to start a new life away from the technologies that caused it.
164	* Tarkon in ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers''. Turns out they were once an extremely advanced technological society, and created a massive, benevolent MasterComputer to defend the planet during a forgotten war. The forgotten war is implied to have blasted the society back to the iron age, leaving the survivors ''very'' gun-shy about embracing high tech. When the planet's RebelliousPrincess is taken off-world and exposed to galactic-level tech, she becomes determined to break that cultural taboo.
165	* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'' flirts with this, where George and his family settle on an asteroid, making do with what's at hand. They're happy, at least until developers find their paradise.
166	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', there is an Amish Homeworld, only accessible by wooden spaceships powered by two oxen on a treadmill.
167	* In ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'', the titular characters once stumble upon a world populated by Amish-looking CatFolk who are about to initiate their annual "[[AnarchyIsChaos Festival]]".
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170	[[folder:Other]]
171	* An exceptionally rare [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_action_role-playing_game LARP]] instance: The [[http://waypointlarp.com/ Waypoint System]] includes a race which does this; the people actually have incredible tech power in the background, they're just not allowed to show it to outsiders, and the majority of the population are unaware of it. The culture is divided so that those who make it are separate from those that use it, and neither understand the nature of what they're dealing with.
172	* ''Associated Space'' features the Free Realm of Sarmatia, a planet whose colonists hide their high tech (aside from medical scanners and such) underground so they can all have fun pretending to be nomadic Horse Warriors like the Mongols.
173	* Meta-example: sci fi writers and readers. A surprising amount is not so much about creating a different world but about technology [[JustifiedTrope as a justification]] for the recreation of a pre-modern world. In sci-fi, though we have lots of TechnologyPorn, that tech often creates a society with [[FeudalFuture hierarchies]], [[TheClan tribes]], [[SpaceCossacks frontiers]], [[SpaceBattle great wars]], and CloakAndDagger between powers of [[BalanceOfPower comparable size]]. It is as if readers have a psychology that was bred to deal with a wilder world, and in the modern world they are like a well-fed lion pacing around in its cage ominously and wishing it was back in the Savanna.
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Context Main / SpaceAmish