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Subsidiarity

"Just as it is gravely wrong to take from individuals what they can accomplish by their own initiative and industry and give it to the community, so also it is an injustice and at the same time a grave evil and disturbance of right order to assign to a greater and higher association what lesser and subordinate organizations can do. For every social activity ought of its very nature to furnish help to the members of the body social, and never destroy and absorb them" - Pope Pius XI, Quadragessimo Anno

Put briefly, the principle of subsidiarity is that problems should be solved at lower levels rather than higher ones. This isn't a matter of utility - that letting lower levels solve things tends to be more efficient, or robust - but a matter of justice.

Consider the language that Pius uses: "to take from individuals what they can accomplish". Pius is not referring so much to the fruits of labor, but the labor itself. Perhaps when we are burdened, we appreciate someone lending us a hand, but we do not appreciate someone denying us the ability to stretch our faculties.

We would rather drive our own car; we would rather cook our own food; for to work and exercise dominion over the world is a pleasure and a joy. It is a natural desire for self-governance, and it is fitting that man should seek to govern himself by the cardinal virtues.

What does this have to do with technological design?

We need to respect the owners and users of technology - let them be true owners and users coming into a harmonious and understanding relationship with technology.

Tools, machines, and devices should be servicable by the end user. Phone batteries should be replaceable. Oil should be easily changeable. Manuals should be provided, yes - but even better is to design such that function is transparent and a manual is moot. Necessitating tasks be given to "licensed professionals" should be avoided.

Software and hardware should be open to extension and modification. Perhaps a piece of software doesn't produce output in quite the right format - if open source, it can be reconfigured by the user to solve the problem at hand. Hardware should be designed with openness towards the possibility of repurposing by the end user - using flat bolted connections over curves and snapfits.

Prudence is necessary, of course, to determine when a higher level of governance or design is truly needed - because there are such cases.