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Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]

thehangedman.com

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Re: Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]

#51

Post by EarlKing »

MichaelZuo wrote: post #29
iRomain wrote: post #27

I laughed so hard at Gordon Inkeles' response. Wendell Berry: 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. Gordon Inkeles: Wendell Berry provides writers enslaved by the computer with a handy alternative: Wife - a low-tech energy-saving device. Drop a pile of handwri…

Wife is also partially self replicating and somewhat field repairable in austere conditions too. A level of technology unlikely to be achieved by computers anytime soon.

No post body was provided.

Re: Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]

#52

Post by antod »

geocrasher wrote: post #8

The original Computer Vegan, complaining about the coal used to power a computer while at the same time using a typewriter that is made of steel that had to be fired and forged probably using coal. I'm not saying he's wrong, but unless he mines his own metal and has a solar powered forge, he's fooling himself.

Forging one (unpowered?) typewriter in many decades vs forging and powering all the computers you'd end up replacing over those decades to stay current? All the chemicals involved in making the electronics? The e-waste? A discarded typewriter would also leave very little behind aside from rust.

While one option is not zero impact, it is still many orders of magnitude lower impact. They aren't equivalent, he wasn't fooling himself.

Re: Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]

#53

Post by Jun8 »

iRomain wrote: post #27

I laughed so hard at Gordon Inkeles' response. Wendell Berry: 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. Gordon Inkeles: Wendell Berry provides writers enslaved by the computer with a handy alternative: Wife - a low-tech energy-saving device. Drop a pile of handwri…

Sometimes it does come in handy, case in point, Sophia Tolstaya (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Tolstaya):

“ Sophia acted as copyist of War and Peace, copying and editing the manuscript seven times from beginning to end at home at night by candlelight after the children and servants had gone to bed, using an inkwell pen and sometimes requiring a magnifying glass to read her husband's notes.”

Stop and think about that: WaP in Russian is 1225 pages. Seven times!

Re: Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]

#54

Post by leetrout »

siraben wrote: post #41

One reply seems quite prescient for its time, clashing against the attitude of the original author. We should support alternatives both to coal- generated electricity and to IBM-style technocracy. But I am reluctant to entertain alternatives that presuppose the traditional subservience of one class to another. Let the PCs come and the wives and servants go seek more meaningful work. -- Toby Koosman, Knoxville, TN

I looked her up. She worked with the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis recently.

I wonder what she was doing back then... :D

Re: Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]

#55

Post by bitwize »

_carbyau_ wrote: post #32
jimhi wrote: post #3

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"

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"…

Proper UI/UX design is tremendously difficult, which is why software engineers should never attempt it in a user-facing product. When it comes to on-screen text, you must choose your words very carefully, because someone out there will read them the wrong way.

Example: in the 90s, Windows, arguably one of the easiest commercial operating systems and certainly the most familiar, used to routinely frighten its users by falsely accusing them of crimes.

"This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down."

If you're wondering why software UX these days is a colorful, foam-padded Barney-esque hellscape of smiling Alegria people and error messages of the form "Oopsie, we made a boo-boo :(", this is why.

Re: Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]

#56

Post by julianz »

dbtc wrote: post #15
phendrenad2 wrote: post #4

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.

your pocket tablet is a computer

Whoosh.

Re: Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]

#57

Post by npalli »

To be fair, if you are a writer it might be better to work primarily with paper and pen as it allows quite a bit of flexibility in how you organize/edit the text while keeping everything in front of you. Having done the paper/pen work, final editing, spell check etc. can be done on a computer which would be far superior to a typewriter at this point.

Re: Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]

#58

Post by calvinmorrison »

EarlKing wrote: post #51
MichaelZuo wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wife is also partially self replicating and somewhat field repairable in austere conditions too. A level of technology unlikely to be achieved by computers anytime soon.

Quoted post unavailable.

Highly recommend using good lube, totally changed my approach to keeping noisy barrels quiet. Graphite works well.

Re: Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]

#59

Post by cataphract »

siraben wrote: post #41

One reply seems quite prescient for its time, clashing against the attitude of the original author. We should support alternatives both to coal- generated electricity and to IBM-style technocracy. But I am reluctant to entertain alternatives that presuppose the traditional subservience of one class to another. Let the PCs come and the wives and servants go seek more meaningful work. -- Toby Koosman, Knoxville, TN

That's an uncharitable reading of the essay. So if we help our spouses that makes us subservient to them?

Sure, relying on the wife is not an option, or not a desirable option, for most writers. But the article is named "Why I am not going to buy a computer". His wife helps him and reducing his dependence on "strip-mined coal" eases his conscience. Good for him, though I don't think that the article has a lot of relevance for the rest of the world.

Re: Why I am not going to buy a computer (1987) [pdf]

#60

Post by [deleted] »

Jun8 wrote: post #53
iRomain wrote: post #27

I laughed so hard at Gordon Inkeles' response. Wendell Berry: 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. Gordon Inkeles: Wendell Berry provides writers enslaved by the computer with a handy alternative: Wife - a low-tech energy-saving device. Drop a pile of handwri…

Sometimes it does come in handy, case in point, Sophia Tolstaya ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Tolstaya ): “ Sophia acted as copyist of War and Peace, copying and editing the manuscript seven times from beginning to end at home at night by candlelight after the children and servants had gone to bed, using an inkwell pen and sometimes requiring a magnifying glass to read her husband's notes.” Stop and think…

[deleted]
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