💾 Archived View for kvothe.one › gemlog › 2020-09-21.gmi captured on 2020-09-24 at 00:47:27. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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Devine Lu Linvega recommended a book yesterday, "Made To Break," during a longer discussion about the nature of disposable computing.
https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674025721
Started reading it last night and it's been a really enlightening read so far. The author, Giles Slade, has so far taken me on a ride through 19th and early 20th century manufacturing and advertising and how our culture has gone from durable, long lasting goods and tools to disposable things. From razor blades to paper shirt bibs, from cracker barrels to Alfred Sloan conquering the rival Ford Model T through largely stylistic differences. Really fascinating stuff that paved the way towards commodity computing and smartphones that last maybe two years before being overrun by the latest and greatest.
So, I typically wear Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers. I don't know why. They seem fun and I enjoy them. I've been getting fed up with the poor quality lately, though. Take the pair currently on my feet, for example. The left sole is peeling right off and these shoes aren't but maybe 5 or 6 months old. Granted, they cost me like $45, which isn't toooooooooo expensive as far as shoes go, but I'm done with Converse, to be frank. I've gotten at least two comments from coworkers about the state of my shoes, and while duct taping the soles back on would be the thrifty thing to do, I don't think I'll go down that route.
Sometimes I get lucky with things that last a long time. I had a pair of flip flops that went STRONG for a decade before my dog ate them. Their replacements, from the same company, feel like they're falling apart after two. This post, however, isn't about the durability of my footwear, though. I'm not trying to go down the rabbit hole of "Buy It For Life," a subreddit which has largely turned into its own advertising juggernaut.
When I first started typing, I thought this post might veer towards recycling old computer hardware with OpenBSD, Linux, and maybe 9front. But I think it's something a bit more than that. I think I'm having a bit of a crisis looking at my life and wondering why in the hell I'm selling 40 hours a week to a company in exchange for a mountain of disposable crap. I don't NEED a shiny new car, a house to hold a bunch of junk, or the latest and greatest electronic doo-dad. I DO want to put my kids through college and have health insurance. But I can't help but think that I could probably figure out a way to work fewer hours for less pay and be perfectly content with that lifestyle.
I used to commute 10 miles to work on my bicycle. I remember getting a lot of weird looks about that, but it felt really good to not be contributing so much to the air pollution. Tinkering with my bicycle was fun, too. I often imagined what life would be back if oil got prohibitively expensive and society had to make do with bicycles as a primary form of locomotion. But MAN did I get some weird looks from my coworkers for bicycle commuting. I quit doing that, mostly because I moved away from an area with bicycle lanes. I didn't want to leave my girls without a dad because someone eased on over, playing with their phone and not paying attention, to make me an unwilling hood ornament.
Reading "Made To Break," along with my prior experience as a bicycle commuter and a disdain for being chained to a desk regularly for twice as long as I'm actually productive (I estimate I can churn out about 4 hours of deep work during a workday without hitting burnout), has made me really stop to think. Sometimes I feel like the world's gone crazy and I'm living in a bizarro world. But sometimes I'll read something or have a talk with someone with someone who *gets* how crazy our society is and I feel so much relief.
Until next time, be well!
kvothe.