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 Less Space Brings Us Closer Together
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On the Small Internet
we voluntarily restrict our use of
CPU, memory, disk space, and bandwidth.

Why?

We voluntarily restrict ourselves
because less space
brings us closer together.

I used my first computer in the 1980's.

Since the 1980's,
my experience of computing
has been:

ever-increasing computational power,
ever-increasing communication,
ever-increasing corporate influence,
ever-decreasing sense of community.

My hypothesis is that
these factors are intertwined
in ways that make it difficult
to untangle them.

My hypothesis is that
we have to accept these factors
all together, as a package.

Why do I care about
increasing corporate influence?
Because I despise being treated
like a wallet with legs.

It's creepy, dehumanizing--
I won't stand for it.

Why do I care about
decreasing sense of community?

Because I believe
we all need a tribe
to be fully ourselves.

Without fellowship,
our growth slows, stops,
retreats like the tide.

Corporate influence
and sense of community
are heavyweight problems.

What can I do?

It's hard to control
what corporations do,
and it's hard to control
the birth or death
of a sense of community.

But I can easily control
my CPU, memory, disk space, and bandwidth.

I can do it _right now_.

We all can.

If the above factors
really are intertwined...

Well, we'll see what happens.

In the meantime, I will continue
to put myself in situations
where I have to share,
where I have to make do,
where I have to depend on others
and have others depend on me.

Those decisions,
one after another,
are the Small Internet.