Permacomputing Personalities
This non-exhaustive list of archetypes tries to discover and identify different perspectives for permacomputing. These are "pure", "extreme" and stereotypical descriptions, a real person can likely identify with several of them in different degrees.
The descriptions are also very "opinionated", especially assumptions about their motivation. Similar to De Bono's Six Thinking Hats, they can be used to discuss a topic from different perspectives.
If you feel that something is missing, you are very welcome to contribute.
Archetypes
The Vintage Computing Enthusiast (VCE)
The Vintage Computing Enthusiast is very interested in hardware that is at least two decades old. They like to tinker with and restore or computers, maybe they are recreating older devices on modern hardware using emulators or by putting modern hardware into older-looking enclosures.
VCEs are motivated by caring, preservation and nostalgia.
Opinions:
- O1: Older hardware should be kept in working condition for as long as possible.
- O2: Simpler devices are better than complex ones, because they are easier to repair, maintain and rebuild.
- O3: Older technologies contain knowledge that needs to be kept alive.
The Post-Collapse Prepper (PCP)
The Post-Collapse Prepper believes that current civilization will collapse in one way or another in the next decade and that some form of computing technology needs to be kept alive nonetheless.
(see http://collapseos.org/why.html)
Opinions:
- O4: Building electronics from scavenged parts will become more important in the future.
The Cosplay Wastelander (CW)
The Cosplay Wastelander is inspired by a post-apocalyptic, mostly destroyed earth, with a certain degree of "fictionality". Examples for the aesthetics include the "Mad Max" movies or "Fallout" computer games.
They are interested in mobile, ruggedized or dirt/damage-resistant hardware, likely with an "exposed wires and PCBs" look.
Opinions:
- O4: Building electronics from scavenged parts will become more important in the future.
- O5: Ours is just one of many worlds, many others are possible.
The Solarpunk Tinkerer (ST)
The Solarpunk Tinkerer wants to solve the problems of the future from the comfort of their workshop. They believe that technology and computing will become essential in maintaining the solar-powered farming machines, automated transport vehicles and small-scale medicine laboratories that will be used to produce food, materials and medicine locally instead of relying on global supply chains.
They see logistics, overproduction and growth-oriented economies as current problems that need to be solved in order to create a sustainable future. In their opinion, electronics/computing is required so that humanity and nature can coexist.
Opinions:
- O6: To build a proper computer, you should need no more than what an average workshop provides.
The Computer Abolisher (CA)
The Computer Abolisher believes that much of modern technology is a necessary evil that needs to be overcome. Necessary, because in a future shaped by degrowth, modern technology is still needed to implenent far-reaching changes to the world. In the long-term, they want to decrease humanities dependence on computing to nearly or almost zero.
Opinions:
- 07: Technology is a means to an end, not a goal in itself.
The Neo-Luddite (NL)
The Neo-Luddite believes modern (computing) technology to be the latest invention to drive inequality and keep means of production out of the hands of the common person. While not against technology in principle, they see our current dependence on huge, expensive factories for computer hardware, large companies who write our code and technology trends like "cloud computing" as deliberate decisions to concentrate power.
The NL wants to democratize hardware and software development, including technologies that make it possible to create hardware locally, to write complex programs with little (or distributed) manpower.
Opinions:
- O8: Computing does neither belong in the ivory towers of research nor a corporate headquarter.
The Permacomputing Artist (PA)
The Permacomputing Artist takes inspiration from different aspects of Solarpunk, Permacomputing, Demoscene and related areas. This can take the form of constraints, from lower resolution displays to energy-saving computing, from file size restriction to color palette aesthetics. Or maybe describing or visualizing a future in which the currently researched concepts have found their way into practice.
Opinions:
- O5: Ours is just one of many worlds, many others are possible.
The Computer Counter Culturist (CCC)
For the Computer Counter Culturist, vintage computing, permacomputing and related fields offer the opportunity to make statements that question current "majority culture". Using older hardware instead of buying the newest device, using devices consciously instead of photographing and posting every meal, writing Interactive Fiction (IF) that can be run on fourty year old computers instead of creating games that require the latest hardware. The focus of the CCC is to call consumerism, wastefulness, capitalism and similar topics into question.
Opinions:
- O9: It is important to show what could be, to inspire people to change things.
Opinions
Based on the archetypes, different "opinions" can be identified. These are statements that a person can agree/disagree with (to varying degrees).
These statements can also serve to create a map (or grid) of potential research areas / areas of inquiry.
- O1: Older hardware should be kept in working condition for as long as possible.
- O2: Simpler devices are better than complex ones, because they are easier to repair, maintain and rebuild.
- O3: Older technologies contain knowledge that needs to be kept alive.
- O4: Building electronics from scavenged parts will become more important in the future.
- O5: Ours is just one of many worlds, a lot of others are possible.
- O6: To build a proper computer, you should need no more than what an average workshop provides.
- 07: Technology is a means to an end, not a goal in itself.
- O8: Computing does neither belong in the ivory towers of research nor a corporate headquarter.
- O9: It is important to show what could be, to inspire people to change things.