No matter how much we love our "country" lives, there was a reason why farm women and city women both embraced electricity, central heating, gas lighting and stoves, washing machines, and other labor saving devices. Plowing with horses and mules may be scenic, but using gasoline powered equipment meant a farmer could plant and harvest twice as much in half the time, and make more money to support his family. Progress may have meant the loss of a lot of hand jobs, but it also meant that men and women weren't worn out and dead by age 40. My father-in-law's first job after WWII was as a ditch digger in construction. He worked his way up to foreman with the L.A. Department of Water and Power Underground division. Now everything is dug by machines. One man and a backhoe does the work of 15 laborers.
While I deplore the loss of jobs to industrialization, I would not give up my HVAC, gas stove, electric lights, TV, radio, motor vehicles, vacuum cleaner, etc. I enjoy hand sewing, but having to make a complete suit or dress without a sewing machine? No Thanks! Knitting is enjoyable, but imagine having to shear, wash the wool, card it, spin it and then either weave or knit the cloth before being able to make a suit of clothes for your children, husband, or self! Even in the middle ages flock owners sold their "wool crop" to wooliers who did the washing and carding, and sold it on to spinners and weavers who spun it into thread and wove the cloth before selling it on to fullers for dying.
The great Guild Halls were built on trades that were taught through apprenticeships. These trades closely guarded their skills, but freed people from the burden of having to do everything for themselves. The ability to buy and sell goods made it easier for the majority of people to move up from abject poverty. Trade runs the world and when there is good trade, there is usually peace. War is bad for trade, in spite of munition sales. The great merchant banks of the early days first established prosperity and peace through trade.
Like B & B Happy Goats I love my heater in winter and AC in summer! LOL