tiedyedave: (Default)
tiedyedave ([personal profile] tiedyedave) wrote2008-11-19 10:15 pm

stuff

This is not part of my series of posts; I just caught eye of a great article on Worldchanging and wanted to share it.

The Last Viridian Note

The beginning and the end are wankerous, but in the middle, Sterling talks about his approach to stuff, and the attitude he outlines there is very similar to my own.

From the article:

The items that you use incessantly, the items you employ every day, the normal, boring goods that don't seem luxurious or romantic: these are the critical ones. They are truly central. The everyday object is the monarch of all objects. It's in your time most, it's in your space most. It is "where it is at," and it is "what is going on."

It takes a while to get this through your head, because it's the opposite of the legendry of shopping. However: the things that you use every day should be the best-designed things you can get. For instance, you cannot possibly spend too much money on a bed – (assuming you have a regular bed, which in point of fact I do not). You're spending a third of your lifetime in a bed. Your bed might be sagging, ugly, groaning and infested with dust mites, because you are used to that situation and cannot see it. That calamity might escape your conscious notice. See it. Replace it.

Sell – even give away – anything you never use. Fancy ball gowns, tuxedos, beautiful shoes wrapped in bubblepak that you never wear, useless Christmas gifts from well-meaning relatives, junk that you inherited. Sell that stuff. Take the money, get a real bed. Get radically improved everyday things.

The same goes for a working chair. Notice it. Take action. Bad chairs can seriously injure you from repetitive stresses. Get a decent ergonomic chair. Someone may accuse you of "indulging yourself" because you possess a chair that functions properly. This guy is a reactionary. He is useless to futurity. Listen carefully to whatever else he says, and do the opposite. You will benefit greatly.
ikeepaleopard: (Default)

[personal profile] ikeepaleopard 2008-11-20 04:52 am (UTC)(link)
That is what pretty much how I approach stuff too. The fact that we are living what Bruce Sterling talks about is just more proof that we live in the future.

[identity profile] gwillen.livejournal.com 2008-11-20 04:56 am (UTC)(link)
That is fairly inspired. :-) It's also similar, but not identical, to my own approach. Of course, it can be stretched to accommodate many approaches; for example, I consider my currently-nonfunctional IMSAI 8080 to be a beautiful thing, but I'm sure that's a very subjective point. ;-)

[identity profile] platypuslord.livejournal.com 2008-11-20 05:27 am (UTC)(link)
That is an interesting article.

[identity profile] sadie-sunshine.livejournal.com 2008-11-20 04:19 pm (UTC)(link)
I needed this, thank you.

And thank you for using the word "wankerous".