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The Retro Future: Looking to the Past to Reinvent the Future (2017)
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| Size | Seeds | Peers | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.61 MiB | 0 | 0 | 104 |
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To most people paying attention to the collision between industrial society and the hard limits of a finite planet, it's clear that things are going very, very wrong. We no longer have unlimited time and resources to deal with the crises that define our future, and the options are limited to the tools we have on hand right now.
This book is about one very powerful option: deliberate technological regression.
Technological regression isn't about 'going back,' it's about using the past as a resource to meet the needs of the present. It starts from the recognition that older technologies generally use fewer resources and cost less than modern equivalents, and it embraces the heresy of technological choice, our ability to choose or refuse the technologies pushed by corporate interests. People are already ditching smartphones in favor of 'dumb phones' and land lines and eBook sales are declining, while printed books rebound. Clear signs among many that blind faith in progress is faltering and opening up the possibility that the best way forward may well involve going back.
A must-read for anyone willing to think the unthinkable and embrace the possibilities of a retro future.
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Comments
"eBook sales are declining"
They are, but it's mostly because the distributors have formed a cartel. Prices used to be a reasonable couple of dollars for a digital copy, but now are almost as high as hard copies. Considering the cost of production and the meager royalties paid to the authors, the only explanation is pure greed.
Dumb phones
I've never owned a "Smart" phone.
I was an early adopter of cell phones (1996, pictured above) because my job required a pager. When a number appeared, I could call it back right away.
When flip phones came out my inner nerd was satisfied. AFAIC they have the best ergonomics. Smart phones are too big and too expensive. Anything requiring a colour screen is best done on a tablet anyway. Why watch a video on a Smart phone when I can watch one on a tablet? Same with maps, web sites, etc. My tablet cost me $150 which would buy only the crappiest of Smart phones. My flip phone cost me nothing and if I needed to replace it I could also get a free one.