I work in a conservative environment. Automotive industry is a conservative industry, even if it has to do some important changes with Electrictiy. Look at a car at the end of the 19th century and now : It has 4 wheels, an engine usually at the front of the car. This industry had the habits to do internal combustion engines for more than a century so people working for that have difficulties to imagine a different world. Most of my colleagues acknowledge global warming, but are not ready for a big change. In my company and in the domain that I work, people are more than 50 years old. That explains many things. You know that age is in the head. I know young people with a an old people behavior...And I know old people always young in their head. But in the perspective of global warming, many people are thinking that science is The only solution, the answer to all issues. Is the electrical vehicle a good solution ? Do we always need to use a car for everything we are doing in a day? The knowledge and wisdom of the elders must be taken into account. How many times have we seen a young engineer coming with a solution he thought he had created...and was created 40 years ago or more.
If I'm going back to the roots of the Internet, it's because I've been thinking about what I need it for. Why was it created? To share information, knowledge and communication. But people are always selfish and greedy. We have created monsters with this tool and even the good ideas go bad. Look at the problems of Wikipedia.fr compared to the other Wikipedias. My solution is sometimes to look at other sources than the French one, or to look at another site altogether. I'm also thinking about opening books again. You know, those heavy things with lots of pages and no power. Sometimes it's nice to have a dictionary beside you. Or in my work, to have some "memory aids" like the famous Dunod, the little dark red books of our parents. You know I have a bullet journal and it has some mnemonics in it too. It's always helpful when you're away from your PC, away from 4G or WiFi networks. The idea is not to be dependent on technology or a power source, just as I'm not dependent on any library or language on my website now. I don't care about Python, Jekyll or Go. I just need something standard, and if I had to change everything, it would be easy without a database and plain text files.
I'm back to shooting film. It's a good exercise to think about shutter speed and aperture before pressing the button. But is that clever or conservative? It's harder and takes longer to see your pictures on a screen or on paper than with digital photography. But for me, that kind of fear and trepidation before seeing the result is part of the process. In a world where everything goes faster and faster, it's good to take the time to look around and find beauty with your eyes, not your smartphone. I read an article about people filming and taking pictures at concerts. When I take pictures, it's not much, and always when I'm sure I'm not disturbing anyone. But I hate people with their hands and eyes on their smartphones just to show that they were there on a social network. Sorry, but I prefer to write something about a concert and try to transmit feeling, rather than just filming with bad sound and, above all, not experiencing the concert the way it should be. Life is too short not to enjoy every moment as a gift. Only that after years and years, the moments are different because the gifts are different. I have had the chance to experience great events such as the 24 Hours of Mans, the Tour de France, the World Athletics Championships, the Kayak Championships or some more personal events. Now I'm not looking for the same experiences, the same emotions. So I don't keep the same souvenirs.
I'm no longer performing. When I went hiking, it was not to reach the highest peak or to walk the longest distance. It was just to be alone with myself, to think about life in nature and sometimes to meet some people. I was still more interested in nature than in people. My best souvenirs were beautiful landscapes or animals. I don't keep much of these moments, except in my mind. I'm full of paradoxes with some digital files, pictures and music, but not shared for streaming or just at home. I'm not obsessed with owning things, but I do keep some films I liked or some books from my youth. I'm not sure I'll ever see or read them again, and I'll probably sell them one day (or destroy them, because everything is ephemeral in digital formats). I always remember the question: what would you take with you if you had only one suitcase and no electricity? Ok, maybe a solar panel :-D ... I'm not a survivalist and won't be the best choice to survive. I'm not good at gardening, I'm clumsy with my hands, even if I can manage a few odds and ends. But in this "dangerous world", with wars on the borders of Europe and global warming, I'm looking for a simpler life, with less energy, less electricity, less storage... I'm trying to remember that some things are not so important. It's difficult because the world tempts you with trivialities, especially if you live in a big city or if you use screens.
You can be conservative in the positive sense and you can be smart to see the real value of things. I'm thinking that we have sometimes lost something in the Human history. But it was not better before as some would say. It's because we are humans that we are not perfect and are doing mistakes. Do you really thing that a small community of humans could live in harmony eternally ? Even if isolated small tribes in a deep forest, there are wars, property disputes and selfishness. If we need interactions, it's sometimes good to live without any to see what is real important. I'm beginning to understand what some buddists are looking by being hermits and meditating. I don't need to be so «extreme» but just keeping in mind that life is too short now.
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