4 ms·

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I currently live in a small town in the mountains. Love the mountain aspect of it. The townspeople are progressive in som

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I currently live in a small town in the mountains. Love the mountain aspect of it. The townspeople are progressive in some ways (they try to be 'woke'), but extremely regressive when it comes to development (NIMBYism on steroids). Housing is a major problem, all the restaurants are shit, nothing gets built pretty much ever, most of the tax burden is on the few businesses there are, etc... But it is one of the most beautiful places in the world, objectively (at least outside the town). Also, lots of the replies so far in this thread mention big cities. I'm wondering what the appeal of cities would be in a 100% remote world without restaurants as, presumably, restaurant workers would be moving to jobs that are remote, no? Or are they just the new serf class?

j_walter 5y ago
OP is most certainly talking about software development jobs being 100% remote...not all jobs being 100% remote.
- Mikeb85 5y ago
  Ah gotcha. Saw the title and thought more philosophically about it. Missed that line. I mean, for me, 100% remote is more or less reality (choose not to take a job that restricts me geographically, have some side hustles).
tapan_jk 5y ago
Off topic but [maybe] relevant... > Somewhere in the middle of nowhere. A part of me too desires this. For a software engineer, what you need most is good network connectivity, which is now possible in many places. The other part of me is convinced that would not be a good move in the long run. If I move away from the city, my kids' education will suffer, my mother (who also lives with me) will lose the social connect that keeps her in good spirits. Growing up in a small place, I always longed to move to a city. Now that I have "been there done that" in terms of living a city life, I do not want my children to go through the same cycle. It would be nice to have the best of both worlds. Have a second home someplace remote, and go live there for short duration as circumstances permit.
- Mikeb85 5y ago
  All of this is true. Hence why we're actually moving to the middle of nowhere in Europe. Because the middle of nowhere there is still 30 minutes from cities, whereas even being 'somewhere' in Canada is 4 hours from the closest city, nevermind the actual middle of nowhere. Plus more family in Europe. But the middle of nowhere, actually, has always appealed. You're right though, it has drawbacks.
- nostrademons 5y ago
  > It would be nice to have the best of both worlds. That was supposed to be the idea behind suburbs, but a lot of people think of them as the worst of both worlds now. Personally I think it's pretty nice to live 30 minutes outside a city but still have enough property for trees and open space, though.
  - HeyLaughingBoy 5y ago
    That's one of the things I've really liked about Minnesota. I live on a farm just about 40 minutes outside of the capital city where I work. Still remote but they're trying to get more people to come back to the office which is really making me rethink this job...
- roland35 5y ago
  The only problem for something too remote for me is my kids. They are still young but I'd like to make sure they have local opportunities to meet other kids, get experience at local employers, and have good schools.
gremloni 5y ago
I find that people approaching woke but not “there” yet are the best.
- Mikeb85 5y ago
  Sarcastic 'best'? The 'locals' are extremely unfriendly, actively try to sabotage new businesses, bring in foreign workers and lock them into work/living arrangements to take advantage of them, heck (attempt to) take advantage of all workers, etc... But they claim to not be whatever 'ism' isn't politically popular.
  - brailsafe 5y ago
    I feel like the parent wasn't referring to specifically your situation, but rather centre-left people rather than very-left people
    - Mikeb85 5y ago
      Ah. Fair enough. These people are more along the lines of: "I'm not racist, I have black employees". "I'm not a homophobe, we have a rainbow sidewalk". Meanwhile they exploit and are shitty to everyone not in their group. And all the "locals" are conveniently white while the visible minority transplants never have "local" status.
      - brailsafe 5y ago
        People in that position tend to try and protect that position through whatever means are available to them, and it wouldn't surprise me that there would be a racial disparity intentional or not. The more isolated and historically homogeneous you get, the more this probably occurs. You probably don't get too many racist people growing up in more heterogeneous communities. I get creepy vibes from most smaller towns anyway, and this is just another facet of that I'd imagine.
- jollybean 5y ago
  How on earth anyone would consider 'Woke' or even trying to be such to be a positive attribute in 2021 is shocking to me. Wokism and Trumpism are both ridiculous cults, where members refuse to concede basic realities in favour of some giant utopian delusion of an ideal. They're giant diversions I think that distort our ability to just see things for what they are. It's pretty interesting how people can be many things at the same time, so these kinds of triggering labels - and the narratives that support them in the press don't help one bit. The recent articles by various media outlets outlining the results of the Virginia election were about 80% playing into narratives of 'each side' further ignoring the 20% of simple truths that I think were the real underlying issues. Those 'truths' just don't line up nicely with the narratives. This problem has metastasized in the US (and rolled over into Canada) in the last 5 years, which is why 0 'aspirational locations' from the US are on my list, at least for another 5 years as things hopefully calm down.

j_walter 5y ago

OP is most certainly talking about software development jobs being 100% remote...not all jobs being 100% remote.

Mikeb85 5y ago
Ah gotcha. Saw the title and thought more philosophically about it. Missed that line. I mean, for me, 100% remote is more or less reality (choose not to take a job that restricts me geographically, have some side hustles).

tapan_jk 5y ago

Off topic but [maybe] relevant... > Somewhere in the middle of nowhere. A part of me too desires this. For a software engineer, what you need most is good network connectivity, which is now possible in many places. The other part of me is convinced that would not be a good move in the long run. If I move away from the city, my kids' education will suffer, my mother (who also lives with me) will lose the social connect that keeps her in good spirits. Growing up in a small place, I always longed to move to a city. Now that I have "been there done that" in terms of living a city life, I do not want my children to go through the same cycle. It would be nice to have the best of both worlds. Have a second home someplace remote, and go live there for short duration as circumstances permit.

Mikeb85 5y ago
All of this is true. Hence why we're actually moving to the middle of nowhere in Europe. Because the middle of nowhere there is still 30 minutes from cities, whereas even being 'somewhere' in Canada is 4 hours from the closest city, nevermind the actual middle of nowhere. Plus more family in Europe. But the middle of nowhere, actually, has always appealed. You're right though, it has drawbacks.
nostrademons 5y ago
> It would be nice to have the best of both worlds. That was supposed to be the idea behind suburbs, but a lot of people think of them as the worst of both worlds now. Personally I think it's pretty nice to live 30 minutes outside a city but still have enough property for trees and open space, though.
- HeyLaughingBoy 5y ago
  That's one of the things I've really liked about Minnesota. I live on a farm just about 40 minutes outside of the capital city where I work. Still remote but they're trying to get more people to come back to the office which is really making me rethink this job...
roland35 5y ago
The only problem for something too remote for me is my kids. They are still young but I'd like to make sure they have local opportunities to meet other kids, get experience at local employers, and have good schools.

gremloni 5y ago

I find that people approaching woke but not “there” yet are the best.

Mikeb85 5y ago
Sarcastic 'best'? The 'locals' are extremely unfriendly, actively try to sabotage new businesses, bring in foreign workers and lock them into work/living arrangements to take advantage of them, heck (attempt to) take advantage of all workers, etc... But they claim to not be whatever 'ism' isn't politically popular.
- brailsafe 5y ago
  I feel like the parent wasn't referring to specifically your situation, but rather centre-left people rather than very-left people
  - Mikeb85 5y ago
    Ah. Fair enough. These people are more along the lines of: "I'm not racist, I have black employees". "I'm not a homophobe, we have a rainbow sidewalk". Meanwhile they exploit and are shitty to everyone not in their group. And all the "locals" are conveniently white while the visible minority transplants never have "local" status.
    - brailsafe 5y ago
      People in that position tend to try and protect that position through whatever means are available to them, and it wouldn't surprise me that there would be a racial disparity intentional or not. The more isolated and historically homogeneous you get, the more this probably occurs. You probably don't get too many racist people growing up in more heterogeneous communities. I get creepy vibes from most smaller towns anyway, and this is just another facet of that I'd imagine.
jollybean 5y ago
How on earth anyone would consider 'Woke' or even trying to be such to be a positive attribute in 2021 is shocking to me. Wokism and Trumpism are both ridiculous cults, where members refuse to concede basic realities in favour of some giant utopian delusion of an ideal. They're giant diversions I think that distort our ability to just see things for what they are. It's pretty interesting how people can be many things at the same time, so these kinds of triggering labels - and the narratives that support them in the press don't help one bit. The recent articles by various media outlets outlining the results of the Virginia election were about 80% playing into narratives of 'each side' further ignoring the 20% of simple truths that I think were the real underlying issues. Those 'truths' just don't line up nicely with the narratives. This problem has metastasized in the US (and rolled over into Canada) in the last 5 years, which is why 0 'aspirational locations' from the US are on my list, at least for another 5 years as things hopefully calm down.