Personal Computing

• The Personal Computer is an extension of the brain, a Bicycle of the Mind.
• The personal computer is not a tool. Instead, it is a person you have a relationship with.
  • This is because you do not fully control your computer (!=definition of a tool). You influence your computer, and the computer influences you back.
  • The relationship can be positive or negative.
• The personal computer is the interface and vehicle with which you explore the internet universe.
• (DevonThink) How To Become A Hacker This is the gospel for behaving within a culture of hackers. Things that particularly stand out is about asking good questions, discipline and competence, and Lifelong Learning.

Principles §

• Lifelong Learning
  • (DevonThink) How do you remember all the Linux commands? - Quora
  • (DevonThink) Why Windows Causes Stupidity - Why It Matters
• Decentralization
  • Key components of your computer systems should follow decentralized models
  • e.g. ActivityPub > Twitter
  • e.g. IPFS > HTTPS
  • This also comes out of the principle of multidependence.
  • Open-source instead of closed-source
    • e.g. Linux > macOS
• Own Your data
  • Services that pay for you to access your own data will eventually disappear. Own your data.
  • Your disk space should be ~1/3 empty. Keep it at that to allow for flexibility but not wasted space.
  • Plaintext is the best format.
• Everything is a File
  • Don’t use Windows objects, proprietary databases for notes or databases that you don’t own. Systems that don’t embrace this approach will eventually likely fail.
• Software Maturity
  • Install mature software only (Operating Systems, etc.)
  • an extension of having Reliable and Scalable things
• Use Software As They’re Intended
  • especially: business software shouldn’t be used for personal things.
  • e.g. Obsidian > Notion (business pivot)
• Know to Surface Data
  • Photos go into where you view photos the most (Apple Photos library). Documents go where documents are surfaced the most (DevonThink). ⇒ Data should be surface-able, like (Article) Evergreen notes
• Living with Generative AI
  • A “language calculator”
  • Everybody gets a 100 interns. (GPT: The Second Renaissance - No Boilerplate)