We should not celebrate this luddite.
Why not?
Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]
31–40 of 173 posts
Re: Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]
#32Holy 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"
My mother doesn't have a computer or mobile phone of any kind. Landline phone, TV and snailmail is her contact with the world from home.
I did give her an old laptop but when the link to "her email" webpage was moved by the ISP she got the error message "It looks like your page has been moved." Innocuous enough error message right?
But this caused her to freak out as clearly "someone" was watching and knew what "her" page was. Ergo "someone" was watching her on the internet. So she turned off the laptop and never opened it again.
On the one hand, she has mental health issues including paranoia. On the other hand, she wasn't wrong!
Re: Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]
#33He is kind of like the original RMS, as he talks about repairability and things being made for the user (like really for the user, not kinda for the user, kinda for the corporation).
Re: Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]
#34None of his points in this piece are wrong, including the one about him not buying a computer. They may be arguable, in fact may be highly debatable, but they're at least positions a reasonable person could have, even if other reasonable people disagree. Indeed, reasonable people can hold a variety of differing opinions, and understanding the ones you disagree with is a really satisfying activity. Good for him, not b…
Well said!
Re: Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]
#35Tangentially 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.
Thanks, I didn’t realise he was a writer. That does provide some context.
Re: Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]
#36Wendell Barry is not for everyone, I have only read a few of his essays but I’ve read most of his Port Williams series which I think everyone should at least read a book from. I grew up pretty rural and there’s no better series is my mind that captures the complicated feelings of loss and nostalgia for a type of living that’s long gone, but also may never have existed as we remember.
Re: Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]
#37> I disbelieve, and therefore strongly resent, the assertion that I or anybody else could write better or more easily with a computer than with a pencil. I can’t speak to writing, which I actually do find much easier on a computer since I can backspace, rearrange, spell-check, but there is certainly truth to reading. I find reading to “stick” longer in my brain when off of hard paper than a screen, most likely someth…
Although he probably didn't mean this, it's worth stating that if you have any kind of disability with your hands the only way you might be able to put pen to parchment proverbially speaking is through voice dictation, so his entire premise is invalid.
Re: Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]
#38Holy 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"
My mother doesn't have a computer or mobile phone of any kind. Landline phone, TV and snailmail is her contact with the world from home. I did give her an old laptop but when the link to "her email" webpage was moved by the ISP she got the error message "It looks like your page has been moved." Innocuous enough error message right? But this caused her to freak out as clearly "someone" was watching and knew what "her"…
As they say, just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.
Re: Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]
#39Tangentially 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.
Remarkably consistent huh?
I wonder whether the process has much to do with that:
"My wife types my work on a Royal standard typewriter bought new in 1956 and as good now as it was then. As she types, she sees things that are wrong and marks them with small checks in the margins. She is my best critic because she is the one most familiar with my habitual errors and weaknesses. She also understands, sometimes better than I do, what ought to be said"
Seems like an old school "behind every great man" thing.
Re: Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]
#40Holy 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"
My mother doesn't have a computer or mobile phone of any kind. Landline phone, TV and snailmail is her contact with the world from home. I did give her an old laptop but when the link to "her email" webpage was moved by the ISP she got the error message "It looks like your page has been moved." Innocuous enough error message right? But this caused her to freak out as clearly "someone" was watching and knew what "her"…
>I did give her an old laptop but when the link to "her email" webpage was moved by the ISP she got the error message "It looks like your page has been moved." Innocuous enough error message right?
>But this caused her to freak out as clearly "someone" was watching and knew what "her" page was. Ergo "someone" was watching her on the internet. So she turned off the laptop and never opened it again.
>On the one hand, she has mental health issues including paranoia. On the other hand, she wasn't wrong!
I would call this an accessibility issue, and a failure by the ISP to maintain access for someone who has trouble adjusting to changes in the user interface.