Browsing that wiki in the past and two pages that resonated with me were on the topic of stable APIs (that is a topic in need of much more discussion overall). There are some good thoughts there.
Permacomputing Principles
141–150 of 228 posts
Re: Permacomputing Principles
#142I have argued for a long time that Permacomputing will be seen as the missing part of the Free Software movement. What use is free software long term if you do not have hardware you can control, maintain and repair easily? This will mean a sacrifice in performance and functionality but gaining control and longevity. With things like Secureboot, TPM modules and ever increasing demands to lock down systems, there is th…
Nils Holm does permacomputing without writting fancy manifestos: https://t3x.org T3X/0 will assemble binaries for Unix/DOS (maybe Windows) and CP/M. S9 can do great stuff with very little. Klong it's a mini APL-like CAS more bound to Statistics than Calculus. No fancy Unicode needed. Also, Luxferre doing an ultra-minimal numeric VM: https://codeberg.org/luxferre/mu808 Read the instructions, that mini VM it's surprisi…
There's a subleq host that runs eforth on uxn!
Re: Permacomputing Principles
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree. What is the purpose of this article?
to introduce a perspective and a community to someone who might want to be informed about it or participate.
Probably not a popular opinion around here, but here goes anyway: the fundamental problem is that unless your net worth is $100m+, there is no point being a do-gooder as any attempts to fix big moral hazards are only going to harm you more than it's worth.
So why bother?
Re: Permacomputing Principles
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Jim Crow America wasn't a good time for black people. Women got lobotomy after showing the first signs of depression. Gay people were demonized at every occasion. Many of these things were actively advocated for by the Progressive movement, back in the early 20th c. (Lobotomies came a few decades later, but were ultimately rooted in the exact same ideas about the primacy of 'science!' and trusted institutions over…
These progressives and modern ones share nothing but the name, and you now it perfectly well.
The progressives back then may have been wrong, but the progressives today have it all right!
Re: Permacomputing Principles
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
Being apolitical just means your politics align with the status quo. Technology is inherently political in nature, because it affects society in material ways.
> because it affects society in material ways. I'm fairly certain the word for that is "economical". Of course, the politics grows out of the economical relationships, but they are still different things: changes in technology may or may not change the political climate (I am fairly certain that an invention of e.g. a tin can opener did not have any noticeably political effects).
> (I am fairly certain that an invention of e.g. a tin can opener did not have any noticeably political effects).
The tin can certainly did though! "Can openers" are particularly distinct refinement of the cutting tool for a specific application, but not any kind of new technology.
Re: Permacomputing Principles
#146from permacomputing.net: ... an anti-capitalist political project. ... anarchism ... intersectional feminism ... No, thanks. I thought it was a tech project. Apparently not.
I get why you wouldn't see this as inviting. But we need to merge the humanities with technology because if both sides ignore the other than both sides will blindly walk into the worst out comes of the other side.
I don't disagree with you, I think we need both the humanities and technology. But this group hasn't listed "the humanities", but a rather reactionary and recent limiting subset of the humanities.
Re: Permacomputing Principles
#147from permacomputing.net: ... an anti-capitalist political project. ... anarchism ... intersectional feminism ... No, thanks. I thought it was a tech project. Apparently not.
I get why you wouldn't see this as inviting. But we need to merge the humanities with technology because if both sides ignore the other than both sides will blindly walk into the worst out comes of the other side.
I find it sad to see that pile of ideologies is so easily taken to represent the humanities.
Re: Permacomputing Principles
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
>You can advocate for sustainability … while being strongly capitalist just fine. […] excluding a large intersection of people otherwise interested in the non-political parts the far-right is literally trying to make it illegal for companies to say they're taking environmental concerns seriously (i.e. ESG bans in tx, fl, etc). in 2026, sustainability is not apolitical. (it's _never_ been apolitical but i will spare y…
Most of the far-right are idiot contrarians (my personal view) and they have no claim on capitalism. Just because far-righters are against sustainability does not mean you have to be a post-marxist anarchist (or w/e) just to be for it.
> does not mean you have to be a post-marxist anarchist
if you oppose a far-right project, what are they going to call you? lol. here is your membership card for the cultural marxist party, welcome aboard comrade!
i just think it's folly for people to complain that "not destroying the environment" is a partisan issue in 2026. being a nice person is a partisan issue in 2026.
Re: Permacomputing Principles
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
>But to assume I always was, and used to be ignorant, is too far reaching. Eh, it was only meant to be a little mean. You were I dumb kid, I was a dumb kid, everyone was a dumb kid. I'm assuming to be human involves being a stupid child who didn't have a very good picture of reality. It is extremely common for a person to have this innate belief that their perceptions of the world as a dumb kid to be true and have th…
honestly bruh this is weirdly combative and not a good look on behalf of whatever movements you stand for
Which movements are those again?
When you're young you're naïve, when you're old you're cursed with a false nostalgia. It's the human condition and we're all kinda stupid like that. You'll have trouble pinning down which group I'm attacking and which I'm supporting.
Re: Permacomputing Principles
#150I think an important step is to acknowledge when and where to implement technology in the first place. Arguably the environmental benefit of an American farm replacing a 10 year old tractor with an electric model isn't nearly as good for the environment as a farm in India replacing a 70 year old tractor that leaks gallons of oil per month with a 50 year old tractor that doesn't. Capitalists don't understand how to ap…
70 year old tractors? India is the largest manufacturer of tractors but you think they all use 70 year old tractors like as the standard? I feel like you don't really know what you are talking about or just using examples on the fly to make your point which doesnt make much sense. China and the US are the two biggest polluters in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_di...
My original analogy was flawed. And yes, I pulled the reference out of my ass. The actual objects referenced are arbitrary. Let me try again.
Replacing a low efficiency device with a medium efficiency device is better for the environment (and more cost effective) than replacing a high efficiency device with an ultra high efficiency device.