Ascetic Computing - ratfactor

(Sketchbook drawing by the author, fountain pen.)

I recently came across a comment I’d written in a configuration file. It<br>was above some commented-out lines. It said:

# I opted to do without this for ascetic reasons.

I often put a fair amount of effort into perfecting and cleaning up<br>source and configuration files for aesthetic reasons, so this comment<br>briefly threw me for a loop. Then I chuckled. How droll.

The more I thought about it, thought, I had to conclude that I’ve been doing a<br>lot of things lately for "ascetic reasons".

As the asceticism article (wikipedia.org)<br>begins:

"Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures<br>through self-discipline, self-imposed poverty, and simple living…​"

I acknowledge we moderns often give asceticism a religious and<br>spiritual flavor, but the term predates that use and<br>originates with regular old down-to-earth self improvement. (More on<br>that in the section Keeping Sharp below.)

Further, the brand of asceticism I’m thinking of is a "natural asceticism"<br>which results from a pursuit of simplicity and focus, not an asceticism of<br>suffering or denial for its own sake! I’m not picturing a starving monk in<br>a hair shirt, but something more like Henry David Thoreau in Walden: "I<br>went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately" a life<br>not "frittered away by detail."

(Hey, look at me, I’m the Thoreau of computing! Seriously, though, the<br>comparison is pretty apt because, like Thoreau, I haven’t strayed very far<br>from civilization and still make regular use of it. For what it’s worth, I<br>do laundry.)

What it means to me

I’ve come up with a list of principles that are the basis for my ascetic<br>computing.

Before I give you the list, understand that I mostly live by these<br>principles, but not always. Just search for "Faust" and "Faustian" on this<br>page.

Here’s what "ascetic computing" means to me:

Doing without things that compromise my personal standards or morals.

Learning to live Fearlessly in the face of Missing Out.

Resisting the Endless Pursuit of Shiny Things.

What’s interesting is that the word computer does not appear even once.<br>Someone 200 years ago probably would have understood my list, and could<br>comprehend, after a moment of pause, the modern idioms "Fear of<br>Missing Out" and "Shiny Things".

All three of these principles are challenging, but I think the Shiny Things are my<br>final boss. I’m one of those people who follows the links on Wikipedia and<br>finds themselves with 30 tabs open an hour later. Or who buys supplies for<br>hobbies with the full intention of doing that hobby for the rest of my life.<br>And then…​doesn’t.

(Yes, I used to learn a lot of subjects, but the problem with Shiny Things<br>is that when I was always chasing the new fashions in computing, I never<br>gave myself a chance to dive deeply into the things I really cared about.<br>Of course, you first have to figure out what you really care about, so I<br>think you probably should look at the Shiny Things when you’re starting<br>out. What is shiny now may become a well-worn old favorite a decade from<br>now.)

Anyway, I’d like to point out that deprivation is not on the list. A certain<br>amount of deprivation may occur as a result of following the three principles,<br>but it’s not the goal.

The goal is to live a (computing) life of principle, purpose, and focus.

(Sketchbook drawing by the author with black and gray liner pens.)

I’m not kidding, I really do enjoy computing like this

I have no desire to wander into the desert with a laptop computer and some<br>solar panels and starve myself until I go on a vision quest (though I do seek<br>the sort of simplicity that would entail).

It’s not that I’m not interested in new things, it’s just that I want to<br>concentrate on the things that are important to me with as few distractions as<br>possible. I wish for my natural state to be either a) learning,<br>creating things, and writing or b) resting.

Another way to look at it: Rather than deprivation, I see this as enjoying what<br>I have, which is a lot. See also<br>In Favor of Enjoying Things on Purpose (raptitude.com) by David Cain.

Finally, to be explicitly clear before we go any further, because some people<br>will insist on misreading this article: Nothing I do on computers is<br>masochistic self-denial or performative mortification to impress anyone.<br>Quite the opposite! I find my habits pleasurable and satisfying.

Nor has this been a sudden proclamation I just made one day. It’s simply a<br>natural mode into which I’ve settled at this stage of my life.

In short, I wouldn’t do it this way if I didn’t like it.

Simplicity and things that just work

I have adored the following Flaubert quote ever since I was introduced to it in a book chapter titled "Be Boring" by<br>Austin Kleon (austinkleon.com):

"Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work."

— Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880)

I’m at the point in my life where I’d rather spend my...