computer manifesto     --    on spiritual computing


  1. IDEAS:

    1. the act of love

      one must truly love computing to do good computing.

    1. computing is art

      Mierle Laderman Ukeles: "Everything I say is Art is Art. Everything I do is Art is Art." further: "We have no Art, we try to do everything well. (Balinese saying)."

    1. grounded approach

      computing is not an isolated act. one must keep in touch with humanities: art, history, culture, etc. one cannot build something good for the world, not knowing the world.

    1. the living document

      times change. people change. code changes. information is living. information should be allowed to die and fade away. information comes from from everyone. it's a developing story.

    1. camp in computing

      there must be space for fun and quirkyness. for doing something that is superfluous. not everything needs to have an end goal. the superfluous elevates the mundane and makes it joyous.

    1. actualisation of humanist values

      computing is for people. people use computers. people use computers to make more art. people use computers to talk to one another. people use computers to cope. people use computers to write. people use computers to write software. people use computers to design hardware. computing is for people.

  2. BALANCES:

    1. getting things done/having fun

      it is important to account for the scale of time. to do things well, but to also complete. there is time for development (actualisation), and there is time for maintenance and repair (care). it is too easy to discard things, to move on to the next thing, but it is also bad to be stuck on one problem.

    1. gift-giving/self-care

      the only way to improve the world is by giving gifts with no strings attached. however, to be able to give gifts, one must take care of themselves and avoid burnout. social support and proper compensation is paramount, while still protecting oneself from greed.

    1. doing/doing nothing

      sometimes one has to do nothing to do something. truly nothing.

    1. openness/resilience

      open cultures and spaces/clubs and friend networks. the bazaar/the cathedral. in extending love to others outside, but still protecting and cultivating the microcultures, the small-scale social bonds.

    1. the new/the old

      architectures that are old are new again. architectures which are new become old. things which have stuck around may have stuck around for a reason. things that are new are not automatically good. things that are old are not automatically good. things that are new may stick around for a reason.

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required reading: