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The Metrics of Backpacks

artpractical.com

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Re: The Metrics of Backpacks

#21

Post by derrida »

781 wrote: post #20
derrida wrote: post #18

"What dismays me about technology is this: not the machine itself but the way its architecture echoes outward, imposing a grid of quantification on everything it touches. The sadness of numbers interferes with our thoughts, begs us to apply logic to warm, messy things. What becomes of the ambiguity of feeling? That which can’t be immediately identified is derided, denied, and eventually erased." Amen.

Standardizing, gridifying and quantiazing it's what allows our modern huge world to exist. > Social scalability is the ability of an institution –- a relationship or shared endeavor, in which multiple people repeatedly participate, and featuring customs, rules, or other features which constrain or motivate participants’ behaviors -- to overcome shortcomings in human minds and in the motivating or constraining aspects…

Who said anything relevant to this? Did anyone say "quantification is useless"? Read again.

Re: The Metrics of Backpacks

#22

Post by 781 »

somada141 wrote: post #5
auggierose wrote: post #2

I don't get it. Was hoping to learn something about how to make the perfect backpack. ;-)

I feel pretty shallow for saying this but I was hoping for information on perfectly adjusting one's backpack based on their anatomy/measurements. Who has time for literary beauty when so many dumb things occupy one's mind :D

You have to read this in the key of the "tortured artist"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortured_artist

Re: The Metrics of Backpacks

#23

Post by derrida »

781 wrote: post #20
derrida wrote: post #18

"What dismays me about technology is this: not the machine itself but the way its architecture echoes outward, imposing a grid of quantification on everything it touches. The sadness of numbers interferes with our thoughts, begs us to apply logic to warm, messy things. What becomes of the ambiguity of feeling? That which can’t be immediately identified is derided, denied, and eventually erased." Amen.

Standardizing, gridifying and quantiazing it's what allows our modern huge world to exist. > Social scalability is the ability of an institution –- a relationship or shared endeavor, in which multiple people repeatedly participate, and featuring customs, rules, or other features which constrain or motivate participants’ behaviors -- to overcome shortcomings in human minds and in the motivating or constraining aspects…

Standardizing and quantizing is also what enables conceptual proliferation which makes reality increasingly intractable. Understanding this is why China had Chuang Tzu and continuity in civilization. Things shouldn't be the slave of reason, they should be a slave of the senses. Love, Hume/Buddha :) perception in terms of quantization has that old problem 'with a hammer everything looks like a nail'... everything looks like a market transaction... to be solved by some financial instrument, bureaucracy or code. Chuang Tzu was talking about this millenia ago and was required reading for China's leaders.

Meanwhile Global Warming carries on... reality doesn't care what we think.

Re: The Metrics of Backpacks

#24

Post by somada141 »

EliRivers wrote: post #7
somada141 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel pretty shallow for saying this but I was hoping for information on perfectly adjusting one's backpack based on their anatomy/measurements. Who has time for literary beauty when so many dumb things occupy one's mind :D

So part of this is all about you, but not in the way you wanted. You're not just a reader in this; you're part of the ensemble; did you see yourself as you read?

I'm gonna fess up and say I didn't read it at first. Within a few seconds when I realised it wasn't about literal backpacks I checked the comments to see if anything of value is discussed. Agreed with the person before me and moved on.

This is how I operate these days I'm afraid. I subconsciously attribute some vague numerical value to anything I do and should it fall under some equally vague threshold the effort is abandoned.

I think the more I work as a coder the more I allow my behaviour to become algorithmic :D

Re: The Metrics of Backpacks

#25

Post by HenryBemis »

I travel almost every week. One of my 'favourite' things on this planet is the one that I use most. My backpack. It usually carries a 1lt bottle of water, 4 pens, dental floss, 2 laptops & chargers, phone charger, 1 journal, 1 A4 notepad, clean socks. I love using this backpack because I don't have to check it in the airports.

I was hoping for a backpack article that would suggest tips, tricks for people like me/us. Travelers with laptops. I was initially disappointed until I started reading. Thank you for this.

Re: The Metrics of Backpacks

#26

Post by [deleted] »

golergka wrote: post #8

> Dustin wants me to know that it was his decision to not hire me. “I have to feel really good about a person before I bring them on, and I don’t feel that way about you,” he says. Whenever I took a decision to fire somebody, I always made a point of openly taking responsibility for it. I thought it was the right thing to do; I was sick of people who couldn't stomach making a decision, and that I could at least look…

[deleted]

Re: The Metrics of Backpacks

#27

Post by rfrey »

I really liked this essay, and I think I would really like its author if I knew her.

At the end of the essay, the vague sadness I felt was joined by a pretty unsympathetic “well, what did you expect?” kind of feeling. I didn’t like that, it put me into the shuttle bus of coyotes she might have been talking about.

But she doesn’t like technical backpacks, or people who like technical backpacks, and she took a job in a technical backpack factory.

Re: The Metrics of Backpacks

#28

Post by [deleted] »

barryhoodlum wrote: post #12
Dowwie wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's nothing shallow about this. If you are carrying 75 pounds on your back for 7 days, you had better size a pack that fits your dimensions and then pack it according to best practices. Why experience unnecessary pain and discomfort? Do it right.

In the context of the article, it is shallow.

[deleted]

Re: The Metrics of Backpacks

#30

Post by CrestonePeak »

rfrey wrote: post #27

I really liked this essay, and I think I would really like its author if I knew her. At the end of the essay, the vague sadness I felt was joined by a pretty unsympathetic “well, what did you expect?” kind of feeling. I didn’t like that, it put me into the shuttle bus of coyotes she might have been talking about. But she doesn’t like technical backpacks, or people who like technical backpacks, and she took a job in a…

When the town turns into a company town for the makers of technical backpacks, I feel some admiration for the people that try to assimilate, but also... it's kind of a shame.

There's no easy reaction to all the engineers and technical staff that don't love making tech products, maybe don't even like it. I want to explain to them why I love it in the hopes they'll start to feel the way I do and be happy. But people are too complex for that. And you can't just be like "get some other job" because there are very few other jobs that won't leave them struggling to make rent, at least not without moving far away.

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