[HN Gopher] Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]
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Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]
Author : johntfella
Score : 18 points
Date : 2022-06-20 09:48 UTC (13 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.thehangedman.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.thehangedman.com)
| jimhi wrote:
| Holy cow - this guy still does not own a computer.
|
| From: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-
| interview/g...
|
| "Berry, who is now eighty-four, does not own a computer or a cell
| phone, and his landline is not connected to an answering machine.
| We corresponded by mail for a year"
| phendrenad2 wrote:
| I don't own a computer. I have a pocket tablet that shows me the
| newspaper (and makes phonecalls). I have a screen on my desk that
| plays old Nintendo games. I have a typewriter which I use to
| write computer code. But I have no interest in owning a computer.
| dang wrote:
| Related:
|
| _Why I Am Not Going to Buy a Computer (1988) [pdf]_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25598811 - Jan 2021 (3
| comments)
|
| _Wendell Berry: Why I am Not going to buy a computer_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2108463 - Jan 2011 (11
| comments)
| UncleOxidant wrote:
| > My wife types my work on a Royal standard typewriter bought new
| in 1956 and as good now as it was then.
|
| This was written in the late 80s, but I'd guess they're still
| using that typewriter over 60 years after it's purchase. Not
| saying I completely agree with his whole essay, but there's not a
| lot of computing equipment still in use (or considered usable)
| from that era.
| sudobash1 wrote:
| Tangentially related, Wendell Berry's short stories & novels are
| an excellent read. They all take place in the same fictional
| small town and are remarkably consistent with one another in
| terms of timeline, genealogy, and geography. I would highly
| recommend them.
| goatsneez wrote:
| I liked the read despite its predictable, unoriginal, oft-
| repeated decry of technology with respect to its (perceived)
| environmental burden. There are several replies by Berry's
| contemporaries which vocalize their disagreement with his
| position and his justification.
|
| With the distance in time to this piece, I think the point to add
| to the discussion is that a key implicit assumption of Berry (and
| in fact even to his opponents) is false. The assumption that the
| default mode of civilization is prosperity for all. Same mistake
| we make till today on all levels of politics and education.
|
| Poverty is the natural state of "cosmos", and perhaps an
| equivalent of physical entropy concept. In a closed system a dis-
| order increases until we are all equally poor (there is NO
| natural/social law/system in the cosmos where would guarantee all
| of us equally rich/valuable by default). At the same time full
| and complete poverty for all can never be reached because (some)
| life-agents itself will try to utilize energy within
| (social/environmental) system to create pockets of prosperity,
| naturally syphoning out energy from the rest of the system. I do
| not want to imply a political of economic system within a
| conceptual paragraph -- that would be overextending the idea. The
| point is in my view that Berry does not ask the right question,
| or assumes the wrong default.
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