3 ms·

I am dreaming of the day I can yell “f*ck you!” And throw my phone into the ocean, walk off and never need it again. Live in a little town somewhere, read books

I am dreaming of the day I can yell “f*ck you!” And throw my phone into the ocean, walk off and never need it again. Live in a little town somewhere, read books, write about stuff. Dress up as a wizard and read the hobbit to children. If you have a chance to get rid of it and make it work, go for it. We survived before without it, we can do it again. :)

quacked 5y ago
I don't mean to criticize you, because I have the same dream. You can certainly do that yourself, but your country would still run on phoned-in people--the same way that the hobbits and Tom Bombadil relied on Gondor. When you say "we survived without it, we can do it again", you're implying that everyone can do it. But "we" still need to solve several major problems: - National defense - Fuel - Power - Medicine - Food - Construction - Textiles The "retreat to a small town" hasn't really ever worked as a large-scale model. Small towns in Europe were still backed up by national militaries, as were small towns in the U.S. There has to be some large-scale, militaristically competitive infrastructure in place before a calm, slow existence could return to a meaningful fraction of the population.
- burntoutfire 5y ago
  Perhaps a solution to that is to have everyone serve X number of years in the nation-scale defensive behemoth, and, after they're done, they can retreat to the good life. That's actually how military service is being organized in countries which are at a significant threat (e.g. Israel). In broader context, we can have everyone say working 20 years in modern, corporate world, so that it does not crumble and we still get to enjoy its benefits, and then retiring to quiet life. It's what people some people with higher salaries are already doing (the FIRE movement), and with more wealth in the economy it would be available to everyone.

quacked 5y ago

I don't mean to criticize you, because I have the same dream. You can certainly do that yourself, but your country would still run on phoned-in people--the same way that the hobbits and Tom Bombadil relied on Gondor. When you say "we survived without it, we can do it again", you're implying that everyone can do it. But "we" still need to solve several major problems: - National defense - Fuel - Power - Medicine - Food - Construction - Textiles The "retreat to a small town" hasn't really ever worked as a large-scale model. Small towns in Europe were still backed up by national militaries, as were small towns in the U.S. There has to be some large-scale, militaristically competitive infrastructure in place before a calm, slow existence could return to a meaningful fraction of the population.

burntoutfire 5y ago
Perhaps a solution to that is to have everyone serve X number of years in the nation-scale defensive behemoth, and, after they're done, they can retreat to the good life. That's actually how military service is being organized in countries which are at a significant threat (e.g. Israel). In broader context, we can have everyone say working 20 years in modern, corporate world, so that it does not crumble and we still get to enjoy its benefits, and then retiring to quiet life. It's what people some people with higher salaries are already doing (the FIRE movement), and with more wealth in the economy it would be available to everyone.