160 thinking inside a smaller box

August 24, 2020

Want to hear the new hit from BTS? No? Ok, want to see me dance like a fool? No? Well, then, don't follow this link.

When my laptop crapped out in January, I didn't replace it. For a few reasons.

First, I didn't have the money. (Although I have since, but I still haven't replaced it.)

Second, I was kinda tired of using it. I spent the past four years literally busting my ass writing books. Sitting and using the laptop, or even standing and using it, had become uncomfortable.

Third, Macs are lagging behind the touch world. Screens are now touch devices. You still can't do that on a Mac. If I'm going to buy a ten year piece of hardware, I want one that's going to be relevant for ten years. And the Mac is going to have to move that way sooner or later.

Fourth, because of my phone, I don't need to carry a computer much. Which was the whole point of a laptop. So maybe I'll be better off with a desktop.

Finally, I was interested in seeing what I could do on a phone. I did, after all, write a book called "#SingularityNow: How Smartphone Addiction Is Saving The World" in which I argue that machines are in charge, and our phones are our guide.

And then there's this idea: computers are a production tool. I've always been pretty good at making stuff on the computer, at least since I learned Photoshop 2.5, back in 1994.

But lately I've been wondering if I want to free my mind and body from the "production" role. To become purely about the ideas, and let others do the production. It was a successful tactic in my copywriting career.

And if you look around at today's world leaders, I'll bet you see more phone use than computer use. Hell, I'll bet you'll see that across all of society.

What I'm finding is that the phone definitely lacks on some fronts, forces you to think about storage differently (cloud, baby!) and is awesomely fast at other tasks. (Blogging, videos)

Plus, the battery doesn't run out (comparitively), it weighs comparably nothing, and you can get pretty much the latest and greatest for a couple hundred bucks.

Basically, although it has its drawbacks and I miss some production tools I know, I am enjoying "thinking outside the box."

And you are, too. This blog is arguably a result of that choice.

America is having a semantics problem. It goes like this:

Evacuee + nowhere to go = refugee

Refugee + time = homeless

Homeless = problem

Problem = criminal

I first heard about this last year, while camping on the Russian River. A woman visited our campsite, and complained that they used to like camping at Lake Sonoma, but it had been taken over by homeless people. Her friend lingered, and explained that actually the people living at the "homeless camp" were actually people who had lost homes in the wildfires a year earlier. But in her friend's mind, these climate change refugees had in fact, committed the cardinal American sin of being poor, so poor they could not afford a home.

Between Covid evictions and wildfire, we're about to see a lot more "houseless" people. Are we going to marginalize, criminalize, and otherwise smear them? Or are we going to help?

Here's a trip. Speaking to my friend the Special Educator, who moonlights as the Queen of Craigslist, I learned that anecdotally, you can't buy a cheap travel trailer in California anymore. From vintage airstreams to late model fifth wheels, they have all been snatched up by people whose homes have burnt.