Whole Earth Index

#1

Post by bookofjoe » Tue, Oct 28, 2025, 3:36 PM UTC

Re: Whole Earth Index

#2

Post by behole » Tue, Nov 04, 2025, 7:29 PM UTC

This is pretty COOL! Right up my alley. I have been working on a similar project with PUNK ZINES. I have a lil loop going with Internet Archive - Scraped all of their zines and any new submissions I upload to them. Yours is much prettier than mine. NICE NICE job. Bookmark.

Re: Whole Earth Index

#3

Post by curl-up » Tue, Nov 04, 2025, 8:10 PM UTC

Jobs called it "Google in paperback form" [1].

I wonder what obscure (probably online?) source of information of today we'll be comparing to the mainstream sources of tomorrow.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/oct/09/steve-job...

Re: Whole Earth Index

#4

Post by andrewmutz » Tue, Nov 04, 2025, 8:26 PM UTC

I clicked on the link ready to invest in this ETF but was disappointed

Re: Whole Earth Index

#5

Post by WillAdams » Tue, Nov 04, 2025, 8:32 PM UTC

curl-up wrote: post #3

Jobs called it "Google in paperback form" [1]. I wonder what obscure (probably online?) source of information of today we'll be comparing to the mainstream sources of tomorrow. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/oct/09/steve-job...

I have a book which lists companies which sent out mail order catalogs back in the 70s --- I'm pretty sure it was listed in a Whole Earth Catalog (might even have been published by them).

Re: Whole Earth Index

#6

Post by thesuitonym » Tue, Nov 04, 2025, 8:52 PM UTC

I'm not familiar with the publication, so I was imagining a joke website that purports to index every object on the Earth.

Re: Whole Earth Index

#7

Post by Kye » Tue, Nov 04, 2025, 8:56 PM UTC

curl-up wrote: post #3

Jobs called it "Google in paperback form" [1]. I wonder what obscure (probably online?) source of information of today we'll be comparing to the mainstream sources of tomorrow. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/oct/09/steve-job...

Probably books like the Imponderables and Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series. It wasn't always the most accurate, but they at least made an effort.

Re: Whole Earth Index

#8

Post by ziptron » Tue, Nov 04, 2025, 9:16 PM UTC

Project like this make me stop and truly appreciate the time someone took to make this... and make me wish I had more time in my day to consume this beauty in its entirety. So much knowledge retained here.

Re: Whole Earth Index

#9

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Nov 04, 2025, 9:26 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Whole Earth Index

#10

Post by zackmorris » Tue, Nov 04, 2025, 9:27 PM UTC

This is great! I remember a turning point for me when I was feeling very low at the height of the War on Terror and jingoism appeared to have taken over the world. Just before the housing bubble popped and politics would swing the other way, but we didn't know that was going to happen yet.

John Mayer was playing music at Macworld 2007 (wish I could find the video) and said "Steve Jobs and Apple Inc. just make life more fun. It's like the opposite of terrorism":

https://www.cnet.com/culture/live-macworld-coverage/

I think of stuff like the Whole Earth Catalog as the opposite of neofeudalism and tech bro culture's revisionist history.

It doesn't have to be this way. Wealth inequality isn't invincible, or even inevitable. Back to basics works. We can get our hacker culture back. We can restore the timeline that's been stolen from us, the one we were on in the 90s before financialization and ensh@ttification ruined all the fun.