💾 Archived View for gemini.onedimension.net › thought › the-fucking-laptop-class.gmi captured on 2022-03-01 at 15:10:48. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2022-01-08)
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My command key on my laptop is totally broken now. Of course it can't be fixed because it's not designed to be fixed. So I have to buy a new laptop like a retarded asshole and consume another $2,000 piece of electronics that depends on a vast chain of thousands of poor fucks.
What am I supposed to do in these situations? I need a functional laptop to do my work. I wish I could fix it but I don't know how to fix a laptop--it requires specialized knowledge I definitely don't have the time to acquire. I used to switch out the RAM and SSDs in the old MacBooks, but they made it impossible to even do that. So I could pay around $1000 to fix this old computer's logic board and battery, or buy a new computer for a bit more that's vastly more powerful. What kind of bullshit choice is that?
I've heard people say you shouldn't buy anything you can't fix yourself. But they're talking about tools like saws and cars. A computer so far beyond fixable to the average joe, especially when it's been designed specifically to not be fixable.
Maybe the key is that I don't actually need a computer. That what I've chosen to do for my work is an overly complicated endeavor in a world I have no control over. That's probably true. The laptop is a symbol of something larger.
I belong to the laptop class; a group of consumerist fucks who build shit that doesn't really exist. It's supposed to be the stuff that "runs society and drives the future." When the power goes out we'll see how far that goes. It's ephemeral nothingness built by people that sit atop extremely tall towers of dependencies. It will have come crashing down at some point.
Written in the spirit of ranting[1]. I do actually enjoy what I do, even if it's a bit absurd.
Last updated Sat Jan 08 2022 in Centreville, VA
1: /thought/in-praise-of-rants.gmi