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.
• Alan Kay considers Trust as the core variable in different computing and information systems in general ((DevonThink) What does Alan Kay think about programming and teaching programming with copilots and LLMs of today? - Quora)

Investment in a fast, good personal computer is worth it. It accelerates everything you do, for a long period of time, and you’re pleasant and happy during the process.

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, Replicable 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)