One thing that stood out to me at #ComputingWithinLimits yesterday was that the "Back to the Trees" talk seemed to (accidentally?) deeply engage with the #Permacomputing topic, without mentioning it at all.
When our little Malmö hub discussed PC we got stuck on how creating hardware is an inherently destructive process, and using what already exists is great, but not the same as the regenerative abundance that permaculture aims for. We didn't see a way out of that
"Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FlOSS) is a captivating realm within software development. What makes FLOSS particularly intriguing is its deviation from conventional business goals, leading to planned longevity and a distinct approach to sustainability."
Permacomputing Aesthetics: Potential and Limits of Constraints in Computational Art, Design and Culture
This coming wednesday 14 June, @praxeology@sandu@viznut and myself will give a quick overview of a paper about #permacomputing at the Ninth Computing within Limits 2023 workshop.
Our paper is a personal take on the potential and... limits of the current permacomputing practices in the context/constraints of #art#design and #culture production.
I will attend the workshop at the Amsterdam LIMITS hub hosted by @dosch
Big thanks to our reviewers Eli Blevis, Birgit Penzenstadler, and Robert Soden for their helpful feedback. We also thank
the different groups and people currently gravitating around the term permacomputing for contributing to a growing number of rich discussions and debates. We are particularly grateful for the suggestions from @Greta@michal and @neauoire as
well as to @creativecoding for providing us with a platform to share an early reflection on permacomputing aesthetics. Finally, we would especially like to thank @loriemerson and @l03s for their substantial and stimulating comments! <3
For software to have planned longevity and business backing, we must avoid using the models that addictive drug dealers use. instead maybe the model that hallucinogens dealers use is more appropriate.
I think one reason that FOSS is interesting to me is that FOSS does not always come with a business goal.
Because of that, it is more common to see planned longivity in FOSS than the alternative. #permacomputing#foss
The decision to use Ruby for Mastodon was a poor choice, to put it mildly.
The diagram below shows relative energy consumption, with values normalized to the most efficient one. So C, as the most energy efficient, has the value 1.
> The '60s and early '70s were a fertile time for #computerscience ideas, reminds Victor, but even more importantly, it was a time of unfettered thinking, unconstrained by programming #dogma, #authority, and #tradition. 'The most dangerous thought that you can have as a #creative person is to think that you know what you're doing,' explains Victor. 'Because once you think you know what you're doing you stop looking around for other ways of doing things and you stop being able to see other ways of doing things. You become blind.' He concludes, 'I think you have to say: "We don't know what programming is. We don't know what computing is. We don't even know what a computer is." And once you truly understand that, and once you truly believe that, then you're free, and you can think anything.'"
Technology alone won't save us, but we can change our social and political relations to it, and fundamentally think about how, when, and why we use technology in a post capitalist, post growth future. It's not just low and high tech, but appropriate technology. https://anarchosolarpunk.substack.com/p/postgrowthtech
This is not new, but ever so relevant, even in 2023. The entire talk is good (and funny), but I especially liked the last chapter on “heavy clouds”.
We need to remember how to engineer against complexity. Also relevant in the context of #permacomputing. Some quotes:
> Complexity is a bug lamp for smart people.
> Complexity anchors your thinking: if you think you need a giant toolchain to produce a website, then you're going to only produce websites that you can make with these giant toolchains.
> If I'd be building software to use for the next 100 years I'd be using something like CL or SML that has "failed" to change this side of the century.