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Harper's Magazine, September 1996: > From an interview with Kurt Vonnegut in the November 1995 issue of Inc. Technology. Vonnegut was asked to discuss his feel

Harper's Magazine, September 1996: > From an interview with Kurt Vonnegut in the November 1995 issue of Inc. Technology. Vonnegut was asked to discuss his feelings about living in an increasingly computerized world. >> I work at home, and if I wanted to, I could have a computer right by my bed, and I'd never have to leave it. But I use a typewriter, and afterward I mark up the pages with a pencil. Then I call up this woman named Carol out in Woodstock and say, “Are you still doing typing?” Sure she is, and her husband is trying to track bluebirds out there and not having much luck, and so we chitchat back and forth, and I say, “Okay, I'll send you the pages.” Then I go down the steps and my wife calls, “Where are you going?” “Well,” I say, “I'm going to buy an envelope.” And she says, “You're not a poor man. Why don't you buy a thousand envelopes? They'll deliver them, and you can put them in the closet.” And I say, “Hush.” So I go to this newsstand across the street where they sell magazines and lottery tickets and stationery. I have to get in line because there are people buying candy and all that sort of thing, and I talk to them. The woman behind the counter has a jewel between her eyes, and when it's my turn, I ask her if there have been any big winners lately. I get my envelope and seal it up and go to the postal convenience center down the block at the corner of Forty-seventh Street and Second Avenue, where I'm secretly in love with the woman behind the counter. I keep absolutely poker-faced; I never let her know how I feel about her. One time I had my pocket picked in there and got to meet a cop and tell him about it. Anyway, I address the envelope to Carol in Woodstock. I stamp the envelope and mail it in a mailbox in front of the post office, and I go home. And I've had a hell of a good time. I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different.

mturmon 12y ago
That's a neat quote. I read it in Harper's back in 1996 and it has really stuck with me. I feel like it describes some of my days pretty well. But another part of me thinks he's writing from a very privileged position, and doesn't (want to) recognize it.
- DickingAround 12y ago
  Indeed. The implication that everyone could be 'farting around' and still have an internet-using, nuclear-war-avoiding, space-traveling society is inaccurate. That's not to say everyone always has to do difficult work. But sometimes some people do and they should be celebrated for doing that hard part.
  - knd775 12y ago
    But, what about Dicking Around?
    - DickingAround 12y ago
      :P
  - jkyle 12y ago
    Only some people can fart around all of the time, but everyone can fart around some of the time.
  - kang 12y ago
    > Indeed. The implication that everyone could be 'farting around' and still have an internet-using, nuclear-war-avoiding, space-traveling society is inaccurate. Quite the opposite I think. Our machines can 'already' work well enough to provide free food, shelter and education to every person on earth. Even still, we produce food for 10B people yet hunger is a problem. If everyone was given free food, shelter and education, then everyone would fart around and get bored until some of them hackers gather to build a space-ship and others join in. Utopia? probably. But the real problem is broken distribution model which real means broken governance model.
    - DickingAround 12y ago
      I would not say it's clear that we can provide 'food' 'education' and 'shelter' for everyone. For starters, those are categories and say nothing about the quality of food, education, or shelter. Secondly, are you sure all work can be done by currently-existing machines and people willing to do that work for fun? For example, maintenance on a broken sewage system. I think there's going to be some jobs that machines can't yet do, no one wants to do, and yet still need to be done.
- mmustapic 12y ago
  Did I miss some huge event when going out to buy an enveloped is being in a privileged position?
  - tedks 12y ago
    Having copious free time has always been a privileged position. The extent to which you can waste time is a direct expressino of privilege.
    - shanselman 12y ago
      "expressino"
      - carbocation 12y ago
        If a neutrino is a little neutral one, I'd like to think that an expressino is a tiny expression, in this case of privilege.
      - leavinit 12y ago
        Its the fundamental sub-particle of privledge; might not have any mass but it still smells and looks like overpriced coffee and arrogance.
      - tedks 12y ago
        Congrats, you caught a transposed character in an HN comment. Sometimes, I don't care enough about these comments to exhaustivley spell check them. I guess I don't have the time. Maybe you should chekc your privilege.
        shanselman 12y ago
        LOL, not at all. It's a great thing. It's a new word as far as I'm concerned and I'm dedicating my life to making it A Thing (TM).
        Intermernet 12y ago
fletchowns 12y ago
I really like that excerpt. I had never read it before so thank you for posting it. I share the same feelings.
gdulli 12y ago
I also realized one day that certain errands were opportunities to go out that I welcomed. And of course when I don't use Amazon I can get something faster, too, but that's just a side benefit.
ilovecomputers 12y ago
I wish my errands were that eventful, but they just feel like chores. Give me a button to press away my chores and I'll spend my outgoing time at the pub with friends.
- Swizec 12y ago
  > I wish my errands were that eventful, but they just feel like chores. Keep in mind the excerpt you just read was written by a professional writer. A good one at that. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's got a quality where even if nobody told you it was written by a writer, you could just tell. No flowery prose. Just simple description. But highlighting many little things and quirks that most people leave out of descriptions of events. Without those, his errand reads a bit like this: "I write on a typewriter. When I'm done I mark it up in pencil, then I ask a freelance typist if she's got time to do a clean manuscript for me. Then I have to go down to the newsstand to buy an envelope to send it off in. I like the roundabout way of doing it" Not quite as fun is it? edit: the style reminds me a lot of reading Gaiman's blogposts about his life
  - squeaky-clean 12y ago
    This is why Vonnegut is my favorite writer. I would read a 500 page novel about paint drying on a wall if he had written it. I'm sure every sentence would be entertaining. There was an interview or podcast (some sort of video) with Ira Glass about this same idea. He describes a man waking up and getting coffee, the most mundane activities, with incredible suspense. You really have to appreciate that sort of ability. It's not even apparent until someone else points out how boring it would be if stated differently.
    - zikzak 12y ago
      Here is another good example of that in a different medium: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/beatles/adayinthelife.html http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/beatles/adayinthelife.html
- marcusgarvey 12y ago
martco 12y ago
| and when it's my turn, I ask her if there have been any big winners lately. So, were there any???
jkestner 12y ago
1. If we're here to fart around, the Internet can make us much more productive at that. 2. The sibling that notes Vonnegut's privileged: Probably. But something tells me so are most of the Amazon Prime members. http://www.marketingcharts.com/online/amazon-attracting-high-income-customers-38741/ http://www.marketingcharts.com/online/amazon-attracting-high... 3. I loved walking and commuting on the T in Boston. I got time to watch or interact with people. Being present in the world is a form of productivity for anyone creating things for people.
- marcusgarvey 12y ago
  >Being present in the world is a form of productivity for anyone creating things for people. Beautifully said.
tedks 12y ago
>I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different. Easy to say that, sitting on a Hugo award and the subsequent career of Kurt Vonnegut.
ChikkaChiChi 12y ago
In reality, this man of privilege bounds into the store on a cloud of positivity, only to be met by the sullen face behind the counter, 12 hours into a double shift on a day that she wasn't even supposed to be here. At the Postal Convenience Center, the object of his affection barely registers his presence because she is fears going home to her abusive boyfriend who is probably halfway in the bag already. When the letter arrives at Woodstock, Carol has to go through the painstaking trouble of scanning in his chicken scratch, and she'll spend the weekend fixing that which OCR cannot unearth. The whimsy of Vonnegut betrays the truth that too many of us suffer from too little time in the day to create genuine, shareable moments with one another. Technology can help beat back that tide by simplifying the tedious, and little by little, we may find ourselves making time to be more present in our everyday lives. Technology should be celebrated, and not feared.
- DJEchoes 12y ago
  "The whimsy of Vonnegut betrays the truth that too many of us suffer from too little time in the day to create genuine, shareable moments with one another." - Is this an absolute truth? Maybe the point is that we should work towards having more of this whimsical time, instead of submitting to the unnatural bustle of modern life and pressing buttons for more fucking laundry detergent.
  - ChikkaChiChi 12y ago
    No existential truth is absolute. Vonnegut's position of privilege at the time of the writing certainly provided him with a better ability to revel in the finer things life has to offer. Not everyone in this world of ours is lucky enough to have this luxury. I disagree that modern life is somehow unnatural or participating in it requires some form of submission. Providing for our needs in a more convenient fashion is one of the pillars of civilization.
    - DJEchoes 12y ago
      So according to your logic, a person requires a level of success approximately on par with a Vonnegut to appreciate an errand to the post office? Anyone significantly less successful than him can't consider the possibility of a leisurely stroll? I understand that not everyone in this world has the luxury of free time, but if one has the ability to shop on Amazon, making time away from work and the internet is almost definitely an option. It's thinking like that which will hurtle us towards an Idiocracy-like reality.
616c 12y ago
And the funny thing, as guy in the IT department, is people come to fart around (Vonnegut's sense, not literally) in our office and chat us up. I get the best of both worlds! Computer at my fingertips, and travel through novice conversationalism!

mturmon 12y ago

That's a neat quote. I read it in Harper's back in 1996 and it has really stuck with me. I feel like it describes some of my days pretty well. But another part of me thinks he's writing from a very privileged position, and doesn't (want to) recognize it.

DickingAround 12y ago
Indeed. The implication that everyone could be 'farting around' and still have an internet-using, nuclear-war-avoiding, space-traveling society is inaccurate. That's not to say everyone always has to do difficult work. But sometimes some people do and they should be celebrated for doing that hard part.
- knd775 12y ago
  But, what about Dicking Around?
  - DickingAround 12y ago
    :P
- jkyle 12y ago
  Only some people can fart around all of the time, but everyone can fart around some of the time.
- kang 12y ago
  > Indeed. The implication that everyone could be 'farting around' and still have an internet-using, nuclear-war-avoiding, space-traveling society is inaccurate. Quite the opposite I think. Our machines can 'already' work well enough to provide free food, shelter and education to every person on earth. Even still, we produce food for 10B people yet hunger is a problem. If everyone was given free food, shelter and education, then everyone would fart around and get bored until some of them hackers gather to build a space-ship and others join in. Utopia? probably. But the real problem is broken distribution model which real means broken governance model.
  - DickingAround 12y ago
    I would not say it's clear that we can provide 'food' 'education' and 'shelter' for everyone. For starters, those are categories and say nothing about the quality of food, education, or shelter. Secondly, are you sure all work can be done by currently-existing machines and people willing to do that work for fun? For example, maintenance on a broken sewage system. I think there's going to be some jobs that machines can't yet do, no one wants to do, and yet still need to be done.
mmustapic 12y ago
Did I miss some huge event when going out to buy an enveloped is being in a privileged position?
- tedks 12y ago
  Having copious free time has always been a privileged position. The extent to which you can waste time is a direct expressino of privilege.
  - shanselman 12y ago
    "expressino"
    - carbocation 12y ago
      If a neutrino is a little neutral one, I'd like to think that an expressino is a tiny expression, in this case of privilege.
    - leavinit 12y ago
      Its the fundamental sub-particle of privledge; might not have any mass but it still smells and looks like overpriced coffee and arrogance.
    - tedks 12y ago
      Congrats, you caught a transposed character in an HN comment. Sometimes, I don't care enough about these comments to exhaustivley spell check them. I guess I don't have the time. Maybe you should chekc your privilege.
      - shanselman 12y ago
        LOL, not at all. It's a great thing. It's a new word as far as I'm concerned and I'm dedicating my life to making it A Thing (TM).
      - Intermernet 12y ago

fletchowns 12y ago

I really like that excerpt. I had never read it before so thank you for posting it. I share the same feelings.

gdulli 12y ago

I also realized one day that certain errands were opportunities to go out that I welcomed. And of course when I don't use Amazon I can get something faster, too, but that's just a side benefit.

ilovecomputers 12y ago

I wish my errands were that eventful, but they just feel like chores. Give me a button to press away my chores and I'll spend my outgoing time at the pub with friends.

Swizec 12y ago
> I wish my errands were that eventful, but they just feel like chores. Keep in mind the excerpt you just read was written by a professional writer. A good one at that. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's got a quality where even if nobody told you it was written by a writer, you could just tell. No flowery prose. Just simple description. But highlighting many little things and quirks that most people leave out of descriptions of events. Without those, his errand reads a bit like this: "I write on a typewriter. When I'm done I mark it up in pencil, then I ask a freelance typist if she's got time to do a clean manuscript for me. Then I have to go down to the newsstand to buy an envelope to send it off in. I like the roundabout way of doing it" Not quite as fun is it? edit: the style reminds me a lot of reading Gaiman's blogposts about his life
- squeaky-clean 12y ago
  This is why Vonnegut is my favorite writer. I would read a 500 page novel about paint drying on a wall if he had written it. I'm sure every sentence would be entertaining. There was an interview or podcast (some sort of video) with Ira Glass about this same idea. He describes a man waking up and getting coffee, the most mundane activities, with incredible suspense. You really have to appreciate that sort of ability. It's not even apparent until someone else points out how boring it would be if stated differently.
  - zikzak 12y ago
    Here is another good example of that in a different medium: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/beatles/adayinthelife.html http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/beatles/adayinthelife.html
marcusgarvey 12y ago

martco 12y ago

| and when it's my turn, I ask her if there have been any big winners lately. So, were there any???

jkestner 12y ago

1. If we're here to fart around, the Internet can make us much more productive at that. 2. The sibling that notes Vonnegut's privileged: Probably. But something tells me so are most of the Amazon Prime members. http://www.marketingcharts.com/online/amazon-attracting-high-income-customers-38741/ http://www.marketingcharts.com/online/amazon-attracting-high... 3. I loved walking and commuting on the T in Boston. I got time to watch or interact with people. Being present in the world is a form of productivity for anyone creating things for people.

marcusgarvey 12y ago
>Being present in the world is a form of productivity for anyone creating things for people. Beautifully said.

tedks 12y ago

>I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different. Easy to say that, sitting on a Hugo award and the subsequent career of Kurt Vonnegut.

ChikkaChiChi 12y ago

In reality, this man of privilege bounds into the store on a cloud of positivity, only to be met by the sullen face behind the counter, 12 hours into a double shift on a day that she wasn't even supposed to be here. At the Postal Convenience Center, the object of his affection barely registers his presence because she is fears going home to her abusive boyfriend who is probably halfway in the bag already. When the letter arrives at Woodstock, Carol has to go through the painstaking trouble of scanning in his chicken scratch, and she'll spend the weekend fixing that which OCR cannot unearth. The whimsy of Vonnegut betrays the truth that too many of us suffer from too little time in the day to create genuine, shareable moments with one another. Technology can help beat back that tide by simplifying the tedious, and little by little, we may find ourselves making time to be more present in our everyday lives. Technology should be celebrated, and not feared.

DJEchoes 12y ago
"The whimsy of Vonnegut betrays the truth that too many of us suffer from too little time in the day to create genuine, shareable moments with one another." - Is this an absolute truth? Maybe the point is that we should work towards having more of this whimsical time, instead of submitting to the unnatural bustle of modern life and pressing buttons for more fucking laundry detergent.
- ChikkaChiChi 12y ago
  No existential truth is absolute. Vonnegut's position of privilege at the time of the writing certainly provided him with a better ability to revel in the finer things life has to offer. Not everyone in this world of ours is lucky enough to have this luxury. I disagree that modern life is somehow unnatural or participating in it requires some form of submission. Providing for our needs in a more convenient fashion is one of the pillars of civilization.
  - DJEchoes 12y ago
    So according to your logic, a person requires a level of success approximately on par with a Vonnegut to appreciate an errand to the post office? Anyone significantly less successful than him can't consider the possibility of a leisurely stroll? I understand that not everyone in this world has the luxury of free time, but if one has the ability to shop on Amazon, making time away from work and the internet is almost definitely an option. It's thinking like that which will hurtle us towards an Idiocracy-like reality.

616c 12y ago

And the funny thing, as guy in the IT department, is people come to fart around (Vonnegut's sense, not literally) in our office and chat us up. I get the best of both worlds! Computer at my fingertips, and travel through novice conversationalism!