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Modern Minimalism
- pm 13y agoHow do you exercise without smelling?
- pm 13y agoOr do anything without working?
- jpswade 13y agoSweat isn't what makes you smell, it's stale sweat that smells. Anywhere that bacteria and fungus can grow is going to harbour germs. Tackle those places and you won't smell.
- pm 13y agoTackle those places with what?
- marrs 13y agoHot water will suffice
- trumbitta2 13y agoHot water weakens the skin, leading to more infections.
- vinceguidry 13y agoIt really doesn't. I mean, after awhile you'll get used to bathing without soap and you won't think you'll smell, but you will. Especially if you stop using deodorant as well. If you're an anti-social sort and don't really care what people think about you, then knock yourself out, but if you like people like I like people, do them a favor and get some soap. It's cheap.
- adamnemecek 13y agoUgh, not this holier-than-thou minimalism meme again.
- Sarien 13y agoI have tons of possessions and when I don't feel like it I just don't maintain them! Guess what, plants aside my possessions don't give a shit and I have just the same time gain.
- adamnemecek 13y agoThat's nice but the most important question is, did you write a pretentious blog post about your life style on your tumblr?
- vibragiel 13y ago> You don’t need any of those soapy substances. It’s all a big lie perpetrated by people who want your money. If you eat/sleep/exercise properly, you will almost never get sick and your body will never smell bad. You won’t need to overcompensate by wasting money on soapy substances. [citation needed]
- adamnemecek 13y agoCitations are a big lie perpetrated by 'big soap' as well.
- vibragiel 13y agoBut, but... then this corporation's reach must date back to thousands of years ago, when we (falsely) discovered that proper hygiene was deeply correlated with improved health. Does it control the World Health Organization too? Oh my...
- adamnemecek 13y agoEveryone is in on it. Even kindergartens. Do you remember how you were taught in kindergarten to exercise proper hygiene? Turns out that they are really just the gov't's tool to brainwash (pun intended) you into using soap.
- adlpz 13y agoYeah I mean, it's not like the advent of soap and the generalisation of it's use (along general hygiene) revolutionised the world or anything. All those people cleaning their clothes with soap on the river in the 16th century were clearly being lied by corporations who wanted their money.
- jkscm 13y agoAnd there are more than 7 billion people in this world. In japan, sick people wear face mask to minimize the spread of their sickness. We use vaccines to protect us. Humans are not perfect creatures. On a side note: does he at least use soap when he goes to the bathroom, you know, to have a shit?
- bnegreve 13y ago> I have an 11-inch Macbook Air and an iPhone 5. No other devices. For some reason, I knew this was going to pop up somewhere in the list. Smartphones are arguably one of the biggest gadget of the century. And they can be used to watch TV, movies, read news, books, as GPS, as game device and so on. So why iPhone and no soap?
- LaGrange 13y agoBecause this is the kind of minimalism only quite rich people can afford. I once met a girl, who said "when I travel, I only need my hang-glider. Everything else I can buy when I'm there". It was a refreshingly honest expression.
- milonguero 13y agohipster logic 101
- bnegreve 13y agoCreating temporary accounts to post harsh comments is also something that I have hard time to understand.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- interstitial 13y agoI know several ego-minimalists. They never post anything online, ever. No facebook, no twitter, nada. No one online knows just how hip they are on the inside.
- autonomy77 13y agoAnother rent-a-cliche is the inevitable Moleskine notebook. You sometimes even get to find out what make of bag they use too, like it could possibly matter. It's egotism and childishness combined, IMHO. For "minimalists" they really seem to care about brands :)
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- STRiDEX 13y agoThis was written by a crazy person.
- SandB0x 13y agoGetting flashes of http://www.theonion.com/articles/im-just-a-free-spirit-who-is-entirely-financially,33905/ http://www.theonion.com/articles/im-just-a-free-spirit-who-i...
- thepatshea 13y agoHey guys, I've posted a follow-up video to answer a lot of your questions about my modern minimalism. I hope this helps clear up some confusion. Video: http://thepatshea.tumblr.com/post/63809364097 http://thepatshea.tumblr.com/post/63809364097 | Discuss the video: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6538136 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6538136
- milonguero 13y agothis is just stupid. my body creates so much sweat and oil. probably more than a litre evey week. there is no world without soap for me. i would itch and smell so bad that i wouldn't have friends.
- nkhodyunya 13y agoNot enough sure should i mention it here, but I'm hardcore soap user and still no friends :(
- corobo 13y agoHardcore soap user? I'm not sure you're using it properly
- bartligthart 13y agoWhen I was traveling in Asia I didn't use any soap or shampoo for a month. My hair didn't smell and it felt the most healthy I've ever felt.
- milonguero 13y agoyou must be from north of europe. with a skin that doesn't create oil.
- m23io 13y agoWait... is this a parody? Please tell me it's satire. A "minimalist" shouldn't need a fucking smartphone and laptop.
- adamnemecek 13y agoBut if he didn't have a laptop, he could not post on his tumblr and you would be deprived of these nuggets of life wisdom. Is that really what you want?
- nmeofthestate 13y agoI thought it was pretty obviously satire, but so many people are taking it seriously here; now I'm 98% sure it's satire.
- autonomy77 13y agoIt's satirizing the likes of Ev Bogue who actually used to post nonsense like that. I believe Bogue has changed from minimalist snobbery to "pretend to be a techie" snobbery now though. And I think he changed his name too.
- stiff 13y agoMinimalism or not, I would like to expand on one of the points - most cosmetics in wide circulation today are really terrible. If you look up their ingredients and look at chemical properties of those, it's all about optimizing the technological process to be as cheap as possible and producing short-term pleasant sensations for the customer, health considerations being completely absent. Basically it's an example of a problem with market economy that probably occurs in other fields too sometimes - customers themselves do not always notice long term effects of using bad chemicals on their skin and are apt to buy products that smell nice, lather or distribute easily and so on, so almost all producers end up producing products that give a good first impression at the cost of being harmful in the long term. For example, almost every shampoo or fluid soap contains some form of SLS, because it's cheap and because it makes for a nice emulsion, despite research showing it is apt to cause skin irritation. Also popular are mineral oils, which is quite an euphemism for a byproduct of petroleum distillation. If you consider this just the next quack fad, talk to someone who uses some of those chemicals in a lab.
- NhanH 13y agoI think many people actually believe (and specifically use for the reason) that using cosmetics product would be useful for them in the long run: reduce wrinkle, aging etc. As I have no knowledge on this, can anyone weight in?
- LaGrange 13y agoActually, I recently tried to verify the claims about horrible consequences of SLS from anything other than semi-conspiracy-theory sites. I might have missed something, but what I've found was boiled down to it being pretty much a non-issue. What it did turn out, though, is that we use too high doses of soaps and shampoos in general, and they are actually intended to be used in minuscule amounts. Also, "byproduct of petroleum distillation!" is the new "unnatural!" is the new "if got intended X to Y, he would Z!".
- stiff 13y agoWhat it did turn out, though, is that we use too high doses of soaps and shampoos in general, and they are actually intended to be used in minuscule amounts Well, isn't this a confirmation of what I have said? Like producers of cosmetics encourage us on a regular basis to use up as little of their products as possible? I like what Chomsky said on a somewhat similar topic: If I'm analyzing capitalism and I point out that General Motors tries to maximize profit, that's not a conspiracy theory. That's analysis. It's not a conspiracy theory that companies try to maximize profit, in fact that's one of the basic assumptions of free market economy. I don't even ascribe any particularly cynical viewpoints to any of the individual people involved, but in any large company responsibility becomes so diluted it's easy for things that are quite bad for society in general to just happen without anyone being left with much remorse. I think it's quite rational to expect that markets that are not regulated to some extent might degrade in those nasty ways.
- NhanH 13y agoAs someone who has a pretty simple life (my most valuable possession would probably be ~100kgs of books, stacked in 2 fairly small boxes), I'd love to know a couple of practical details in your life (if it isn't too snooping, that is)! The question will be fairly personal, because pretty much most other stuffs won't be essential. Do you take a bath daily? How do you brush your teeth? You seems pretty young, and things like teeth cavity might not be a problem yet, but it's hard to say what will happen in a few year. Why did you make a decision to not have any soapy substance? It seems like a single small bottle of something that can be used both as shampoo and body soap would accomplish the same thing. And bathing after sweating without soap just never seems to work for me. And are you sure that you're not smelly? I'm honestly wondering since it's fairly hard to for one to detect our own smell - we just get used to it.
- manmal 13y agoI noticed myself that if I wash daily, I would not need shower gel. I use it nonetheless, but I could go days without soap (or the perfume contained). EXCEPT if I drink coffee - that makes my sweat somewhat smelly (you probably won't notice it though, only I do) :) Toothpaste: There are people who get cavities while using toothpaste 3x a day, while I haven't gotten any cavities in the last few years although I have limited brushing to 1x per day (evening). I had minor tooth surgery once, but that seems to have stemmed from an overzealous dentist drilling too fast into a minor cavity which he should just have left alone (causing shock within the tooth, leading to inflammation). But, I'm not sure whether I would ever go entirely without toothpaste. I might research into natural substitutes with similar chemical compounds. Deo: You certainly don't need it if you eat clean and shower every day. Shampoo: Some people report that omitting shampoo works well, but there's a nasty transition period of a few weeks in which you might look like you dipped your head in grease. Reportedly, skalp skin reduces the amount of fat secreted if you stop constantly washing it away.
- bjourne 13y ago> Shampoo: Some people report that omitting shampoo works well, but there's a nasty transition period of a few weeks in which you might look like you dipped your head in grease. Reportedly, skalp skin reduces the amount of fat secreted if you stop constantly washing it away. Who are those people? I'm genuinely interested. I got rashes that are made worse by shampoo.
- chrisreichel 13y ago> I don’t use ANY soapy substances: ... toothpaste, ... deodorant So.. are you living in Europe then?
- theboywho 13y agoIt's funny how people who say they are minimalists start listing the things they don't have in the "physical" life arguing they are not needed. But then, they have an iCloud account, a twitter, facebook, flickr, instagram, reddit, gmail, you name it account. How about a minimalist virtual life too, where all you have is an email account? an e-minimalist? I think a minimalist life should be more about "using" less (and accomplishing more) than about plain raw "owning" less.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- bjourne 13y agoThat would be Richard Stallman.
- goo 13y agoI think the concept of "e-minimalism" is great. I think it is useful to recognize that "stuff" is a system, and as a user, the system of "stuff" requires some maintenance, is at risk of failure (by theft, loss or damage), though despite the drawbacks does provide benefits that make life better. My water filter makes water taste better; my sweet chair is very comfortable. My car drives me to the beach to surf regularly. Some stuff requires greater scrutiny -- the high maintenance demanded by the car in terms of time and money indicates that I would be wise to carefully consider if the benefits outweigh the costs. Technology systems can be measured similarly -- do the costs (time, money, cognitive load, opportunity cost, presently and in the future), outweigh the benefits. Making that measurement is difficult, and our minds are not exactly rational actors when it comes to deciding to adopt technology -- we are easily swayed by social factors, and it is hard to measure the future cognitive load and opportunity cost of a technology system. Being an "e-minimalist" could be a useful heuristic. Since benefits of "stuff" and systems can vary subjectively, I think minimalism (as a philosophy or hobby) is a subset of a larger identity question from the individual -- "what is my relationship to the systems at play in my life?" Attempting to optimize that relationship usually leads to more happiness than ignoring the question. For some people, minimalism for "stuff" is a solid optimization. E-minimalism makes lots of sense, too.
- mtct 13y ago10/10 You made me reply.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- phaer 13y agoOut of interest: Where do you stay? Do you rent a flat/house? If so: How do keep it clean? What do you eat? Are you out-sourcing your food production? I am asking because, the smartphone discussion aside, i find it questionable to speak of minimalism if you just trade most of reproductive labor for money. I guess most of (single, childless) readers of HN could just live in an hotel suite without owning anything beside an laptop. I am sorry if that sounds mean, i am no native speaker, i mean it sincerly; 1 month ago i moved to another country to live here for one year and everything i took with me fit in a small backpack. I am still living quite minimalistic on 25m², but i have stuff like a broom, some kitchen equipment, even two beds - one for guests - and an external monitor. Oh, and soap ;)
- spectrum 13y agoI am sure this guy is still living with his parents judging by the stuff he owns. If you live on your own you NEED things like a refrigerator, a stove, pots and pans, cleaning supplies, kitchen knife, lamps, a table, chairs, the list can go on and on.
- thepatshea 13y agoI co-founded a web startup and live in a house with my co-founders. We pay our bills through revenues and investment. My goal is to survive on Soylent when it comes out. I've already pre-ordered a month supply. Until then, I survive primarily on Orgain, a drink similar to Soylent. I also frequently eat out with my friends.
- killwhitey 13y agoI find it a little curious that most commenters here are focusing on his mention of not using soap, but not asking about how his source of income, food, or shelter. That iPhone 5 comes with a monthly bill and requires recharging daily.
- interstitial 13y agoClearly, his soap bills were hundreds of dollars a month. Now that he's quit his soap habit, he's got enough for the iPhone. For shelter, he built a yurt out of soap wrappers and self-esteem.
- DrinkWater 13y ago"I have one pair of shorts with built-in underpants." ...what?
- parasight 13y agoI suppose he is talking about some kind of swimming shorts. Those often have built-in tights.
- DrinkWater 13y agoi was worried more about "one" (1) pair. But now that you mentioned it, this whole matter becomes really disgusting.
- paullth 13y agoSounds like 18 year old me. If I met that me, I'd probably throttle that me whilst yelling "put that credit card away and get a job" and such. But if successful I guess that would cause a paradox and so it isn't likely to happen.
- kfk 13y agoMeh. I am in the process of buying a foldable kayak. I plan to kayak in Patagonia in 2015 and I crossed Poland, Austria and Slovakia with a canoe the last 2 years. Point is: my kayak won't fit in a bag. Then what? I should buy and iPhone and spend my time on fb? He doesn't even have an ebook, does he read? I do consider myself a minimalist, but in the way I embrace only the minimum to live a full life, not just for the sake of it. You can't seriously think you can spend all your life like that. What will you talk about with your friends if you have nothing going on? What will fulfill your life growing old? You can sit and think only so much.
- kal00ma 13y agoI'm very interested in doing a long distance river trip in Europe. Can I ask which route you took through those countries? Was dealing with locks an issue or did you just carry your canoe past them?
- kfk 13y agoHey, great why don't you email me? Do you have experience with kayaking? We are planning to go kayaking in the Guadalquivir in May if you are interested. Otherwise, I can share with you our itineraries (with locks) for the Danube (Passau-Bratisalva) and the Vistula (Cracow-Gdansk). To your question. The routes we look are river only, meaning, we pick a river and we just keep going. Locks usually are not an issue, you either go pass them as you said (so pack well and get a cart 1) or you use a sluice. The thing I would really be careful with is falls. Even 2m falls can be dangerous. We got very close (like 5m from it) to a 10m water fall in Vienna on the Neu Donau. It was not in our itinerary because under a bridge and not visible from google earth. 1 Couldn't resist: http://www.vanwal.nl/photos/albums/vistula-june-2013-/img_0654_.jpg http://www.vanwal.nl/photos/albums/vistula-june-2013-/img_06...
- k-mcgrady 13y agoThe site you've linked to is throwing up a security warning in Chrome.
- telephonetemp 13y agoSome of the attitudes in the minimalist movement strike me as cargo-cult. What I mean by that is that they seem aimed at optimizing the how-much-stuff-you-own metric itself rather than what it's supposed to be a proxy for (lack of mental burden, control over your life). This is tantamount to assuming that complexity is inherently unmanageable, which I disagree with. Venkatesh Rao has a good post on the matter somewhere. Edit: As for the link posted (whether or not it's genuine), I wonder about >I don’t have a bed or a pillow. I sleep in a small sleeping bag. Is this healthy in the long run?
- xuhu 13y agopaging Moxie Marlinspike ... http://www.thoughtcrime.org/blog/the-worst http://www.thoughtcrime.org/blog/the-worst
- collypops 13y agoEvery time someone tries to convince me they've found some awesome way to live their life (or do anything) and hints that they've tapped into something undiscovered, or something we'd all be doing if we weren't so blinded or busy being tricked by 'the man', I have to remind myself that we're not all the same. It needs to be repeated. We're not all the same. To think that we are the same and make decisions based on that assumption (and use that as a basis for any kind of advice) is at best, foolish, and at most, dangerous. Here's my ridiculous strawman (which is for entertainment more than argument, like any good strawman): I don't need a wheelchair. The average person doesn't need a wheelchair. So let's do away with wheelchairs! Look, sure, I've got a lot of stuff that I don't need and shouldn't need. Upon accepting this truth I didn't dump all my shit and try to fit my life into a backpack. I'm married, which brings with it a whole bunch of compromises. This post, and many like it, reek of someone who doesn't have to make a lot of compromises. I'm sure it works for him. It may not work for you. Wear sunscreen.
- stiff 13y agoWow, people here are obviously much more attached to their lifestyles than this guy, considering the amount of hate he received in just a few minutes. I mean, he was relatively non-judgemental about the whole thing, and people here respond almost like being attacked personally.
- sheraz 13y agoI I I I I I -- wow. You said I 53 times. That is not modern minimalism. You are a contemporary pseudo-ascetic with narcissistic overtones. edit - removed the angry and hot-headed language
- srl 13y agoSince nobody else has pointed this out: the rest of the guy's website reveals him to be a stand-up comic. The ridiculousness of this post is intentional.
- danieldk 13y agoNot this again. I have just moved to another country. While my wife wraps up her job in my home country, before she moves here, I am moving from apartment to apartment with only a suitcase full of clothes, my laptop, and a phone. Frankly, I hate it. It's great to have a safe and familiar place that you can call home. It's great to have a sofa, a bed, a stack of books, some nice photos on the wall, a kitchen with cooking tools, etc. Also, it's utterly impractical to be a minimalist when/if you get children. Or a life partner who doesn't hold the same philosophy. I believe in the middle way: don't be overly consumerist, don't be ascetic. There is nothing wrong with having a home and owning stuff (like two jeans). (Of course, each to his/her own, but I think for 95% of the population extreme minimalism doesn't make them happier.)
- sdnguyen90 13y agoget some socks man thats disgusting
- meiji 13y agoHow does watching movies on a laptop rather than a TV create "Time. I have time. Lots of it". I think he's missing the part in his life where you can own something without having to use it all the damn time.
- k-mcgrady 13y agoThis is just doing shit so you can call yourself something. I didn't have a bed or pillow for 3 months. It was uncomfortable and although I got used to it I woke up with neck/back pain every morning. It's a stupid thing to do on purpose. As for not using soap - please start again. I don't want to be shaking your hand after you've been to the bathroom. And how about in hospitals? Do you make an exception to wash your hands with the provided soap before entering a ward? Also, getting rid of soap, socks, and a bed does not give you more time.
- teh_klev 13y agoI feel a dose of Poe's law being administered here. You're being harvested for new stand up material.
- telephonetemp 13y agoNote that the OP does stand-up himself. He may or may not be pulling a Kaufman on us here.
- disputin 13y ago"I don’t use ANY soapy substances" "Time to spend ... chasing girls" Not sure why you need to chase them.
- vinceguidry 13y agoI did the no-soap thing for awhile. I wouldn't recommend it, unless you're looking to live some kind of counter-culture lifestyle and purposefully alienate people in the mainstream who aren't as open-minded as you are. Once I stopped, cut my hair and dressed more nicely, I noticed everyone around me, even the open-minded folk suddenly being a lot more friendly. My take-away: don't cut your nose off to spite your face. Soap is one of those things society believes we need and it's not all that harmful, even if it doesn't really help things much. So just use it.
- Sagat 13y agoThis was a successful troll. I actually believed you were serious for several hours. Thanks for brightening up my day.