on minimalism & pragmatism

a naieve first reading of permacomputing and planned obsolescence:

• "the only reason we have new technologies is because of planned obsolesescence"

• "once software works, it does not need maintenance"

• "software subscriptions are just a scam invented by gatekeeping monopolists"

complications:

• often new computers are more energy efficient than older computers per unit of computation. often old servers are replaced not because they break, but because a new server could perform the same job more efficiently

• software for communication is fundamentally a relational practice. if your software does not speak the same protocol as someone else, then you cannot communicate with them.

speaker notes: story about using lichen-markdown to collaborate on gateway co-op