Why was I going to buy another computer? I already have two. Part of it was vanity, this was going to become the perfect hackerstation!

I also have a strange relationship with computers, a big part of my personality has been built around computers, and on the other hand I really don't end up doing much with them.

There are many dichotomies about me, many yins and yangs, and one big split that tears me apart is the conflict between cyber and nature. Am I a netizen and a cyber-cowboy, or a back-to-the-roots hermit of the mountains, living in tune with nature? Yes, I am aware any such dicothomy is misguided, whatever, and anyway, all of this is built on nothing but pure vanity.

I bought the harpoon, anyway, and that ought to get me moving. I spend so much time staring at screens, and regretting this fact. Computers don't inspire me the way they used to, and sometimes I just spend time in here for the sake of doing so, and I end up wishing I would go out and move my body more, instead of sitting here expecting to draw something of value out of these damned machines.

It's not like I can't find something of value in here, but I have to *force* it out. I can be very unproductively productive in here, in a way that has ended up becoming a fake kind of progress. I think of all the kinds of miscellaneous stuff that I could talk about in a great many subjects, and how many times someone has been surprised by me mentioning some obscure piece of knowledge (obscure in the sense that perhaps not everybody would bring it up or know about it, in a normal setting), and oh the futility of it all, for I know a little about a lot, but never a lot about anything whatsoever.

Lately I have focused on reading about stuff that would get me away from the screen... and it's ironic that I depend on the screen to learn about this stuff. Not that I *actually* depend on the screen to do so, I am still going back over a bad habit of reaching for the screen in an attempt to get away from it.

And yet... the internet is my library of alexandria, for I am trapped in hick country (well, it's equivalent in my country), with no like-minded people in a 10-mile radius at least, a place where books have been apparently banished, and there is an ongoing effort to banish trees just as well. Where can I reach for anything that would allow me to keep my sanity? Hopefully, the harpoon will be a good way to keep my mind -and my body- busy enough, and at a healthy distance (at least a couple miles) from any screen whatsoever.

tffb

hi ~detritus

For me, I fell into a Computer Science "versus" Nature mindset some time ago, and I found it to be *like* a dicothomy, but actually a "quasi" false choice ("quasi" because there is not actually a choice to it at all - Nature wins all-out, nothing anyone can do about it - (also there is no equivalent to nature, so a dicothomy can't exist in this respect). HOWEVER, the mindset of this (tech v nature) is recurring for me, but, I acknowledge that I respect and admire the natural world (some lack this admiration, which is unfortunate). Some things I like, and like to learn/amuse myself with, are sites like 100r.co, Low Tech Magazine, the small computing movement (not just Smol Web), permacomputing, and longevity-focused CS topics that address consolidating the (sad) reality of built-in obsolescence and Collapse Informatics.

Albeit, these are cutting losses, in the long and short term. The best way to state my view on it ("tech v nature", or (better) "Nature with tech") is to quote Ray Jardine: "if given the choice between Nature and technology, choose nature. Because technology will let you down".

~bartender, another espresso please. Sun comes up soon and I want to be ready for it :)

detritus

to quote Ray Jardine: "if given the choice between Nature and technology, choose nature. Because technology will let you down".

That's a great way to say it, and I often forget just how much frustration computers can cause me. And yet, they are marvelous toys!

To be fair, much of the problem about technology is not so much an inherent one as is one of sprawling complexity and, as you have mentioned, planned obsolescence, the latter a good reminder not to buy new computers at all!

Nature wins all-out, nothing anyone can do about it - (also there is no equivalent to nature, so a dicothomy can't exist in this respect).

This, too. In the end, Nature is always bound to win the match, and there really isn't a choice between one or the other. If I chose computers, I would have to be buying new computers all the time. The reason I wanted to buy another computer is because my old little hackbook is quite beaten. Perhaps it's better for me to repair it and fight the currents of planned obsolescence.

Being myself a rather technical person, who likes to play with formal systems and stuff like that, most of my interest has actually been directed towards mathematics, languages, and other such complex systems, ones that are not actually bound to technology. However, I am still using technology to learn about them, as I have already said.

Anyway, thank you for reminding me that I would do a lot better repairing my failing devices, instead of running the treadmill of planned obsolescence. After all, I have plenty of stuff outside of the computer to keep me busy without having to be enslaved to these devilish devices!

inquiry

What's wrong with you people: becoming enamoured of the likes of computers and nature when there's some perfectly good American politics to be getting angry at/with each other over?!? :P

detritus

What's wrong with you

I think you'll find the answer right away:

people

that's it, you answered your own question, we are people, that's what's wrong with us.

becoming enamoured of the likes of computers

guilty as charged, there really is something wrong with me.

and nature

isn't it nice how everything that's not computers or politics can easily all get stashed under the heading of "nature"? :^)

when there's some

[some comment on space and time goes here]

perfectly good

I don't know if there's anything perfect or good about it, these two adjectives are probably put there to guarantee some angry replies, I'm sure it'll work wonders.

American politics

As an american, I ask you not to involve us in your (anglo-american) race to the bottom.

to be getting angry

angry? nothing has pleased me more than to see the shitshow and decadence of the "world police", good thing you guys are the paradigm of democracy, huh?

at/with each other

the US government has done a great job pitting people against each other in order to avoid being the target of all that anger.

inquiry

I absolutely love that kind of reply!

tffb

I

Meaning me? Yes. Yes I do. ;)

absolutely

my affiliation with this word ties to Absolute Vodka, which I drank once and vomited all over. I therefore never say absolute or absolutely anything.

love

"Alone again, or..." OR "Some Kinda Hate" (The Misfits) come to mind when thinking of love.

that

..followed after: a little bit of this. A little bit of...

Also, this reply I am doing right now must be terrible

kind

...buds. Killer buds. KB. (Aka, the excuse older teens would use to rip off younger teens when selling them weed, when it was ok/decent weed, but they'd say "ah man, its Kind Bud, twice the price!"

of

...course

reply!

I am!

inquiry

Never cared for Absolut.

But Ketel One? Now we're talkin'.

"Alone again" as in "Alone Again (Naturally)?"

"Some Kinda Hate": unfamiliar.

But it somehow got me remembering yesterday, when a son-in-law had Alexa play "Words Carry" (I think that's the title), which I recall loving, but honestly haven't heard it in a couple decadences.

Replies aren't capable of being terrible. If anything, they're miraculous - and seemingly quintuply so in SMOLiverse haunts.

On da buds, thanks for reminding me that a couple weeks ago some relatively new friends gave me a sample of some they grew. Need to decarboxylate it one of these days, 'cuz the lungs ain't what they used to be. Maybe the "pizza oven" can play a role doing that outdoors, as the last time I did it indoors I caught "heck" - not for being a user, but for stenching up the place.

tffb

I *absolutely* love Ketel One (when I was drinking, which is basically never these days).

"Alone Again, Or..." the song by the *band* LOVE

Yea, I can't smoke herb, either. Lungs are f***ed in that regard. I eat the buds straight. No edible, no vapes, to back-of-the-eyelid-evaporating suppository; just chomping green herb and being "on" THC, with a mild uptick/peak/come down from it - longer lasting, fairly more enjoyable (than smoking).

inquiry

Bartender, a Ketel One martini - straight up, two olives - and a *cereal* bowl 'o weed for this fine ~tffb fellow!

tffb

barkeep, feel free to pour some of that Ketel One into the cereal bowl

inquiry

I sense some through the cereal bowl darkly coming on....

inquiry

Ooops... song title is "Voices Carry", not "Words Carry" (or John Kerry, for that matter...).

detritus

I

me too :3

absolutely

not partially, noted

love

I share the enthusiasm

that kind

what kind?

of reply!

Let's see how long that lasts ;-)

tffb

rut ro

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