technology in ME

[peony_foxburr]

*Ahem*--Why is technological advance associated with weaponry?

I contend that Tolkien had rather the opposite point of view:
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"Hammers, axes, swords, daggers, pickaxes, tongs, and also instruments of torture, they make very well, or get other people to make to their design, prisoners or slaves that have to work till they die for want of air and light. It is not unlikely that they invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosions always delighted them, and also not working their own hands more than they could help; but in those days and those wild parts they had not advanced (as it is called) so far."
--Tolkien, speaking of goblins in "The Hobbit"
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There isn't much said about the comforts of everyday life such as central heat, plumbing, lighting, and fuel other than wood, and I wonder about those technologies. Elrond and Galadriel both wielded Rings of Power, which perhaps included climate control for Imladris and Lothlorien. The Elves had powers of telepathy, which would render devices of communication superfluous. But raising food and producing clothing, furniture, and other goods by hand is laborious, in some cases back-breakingly so. (And let's not even talk about ordinary housework.) Did they use magic? or were they just so strong, as well as immortal, that it didn't matter?