re: Fix your Brain

Kelbot has an interesting piece entitled "Fixing My Dummy

Brain with a PDA."

=>gemini://gemini.cyberbot.space/gemlog/2021-09-29-dummybrainpda.gmi piece

Experiments like this make it clear how much the medium

really is the message. Furthermore, it would seem that

they restore some what of our attention and ability to seek

depth.

I know this space tends to select for technical ability, so

I also want to put in a good word for paper-and-pen

options. I have switched my vocabulary system (currently

just Spanish, but I want to dive more into older English

texts, so I'll be beefing up that vocabulary as well) to

notebooks -- scavenged ones at that. Also, I intend to

exploit the absurd market "inefficiency" of paper books at

library for as long as that exists [1].

Often what is most important about a system is not what it

connects to, but what it filters out. And paper systems

are top-notch for this.

Text-based systems without the distractions of web 2.0 --

what I have seen recently described as " a manic screaming

bullshit parade" -- gives your work flow a heightened

ability, understanding, sustainability, and what seems like

a paradox of more time for diffuse thoughts -- only they

are your thoughts that are bubbling up, not what you are

manipulated to jerk toward in an endless, exhausting

zig-zag.

[1] As a hilarious result of artificial scarcity and neo-

robber-barronism is that the economics of loaning out paper

books versus electronic copies is not so clear cut. At least

in school libraries, the paper books are the less expensive

option, as you pay once and don't have to deal with micro-

transactions and sliding scales. But, of course, the logic

of late stage capital asks "why do you need that building,

with it's upkeep costs, offices, public (what's that?)

spaces. Markets would be so much more efficiently if, you

know, we could get rid of the people.

===

I'd love to hear from people. My email is the handle minus

"net" (so, a work by Voltaire that starts with "c"), at

sdf.org.