Comment 47314

By Undustrial (registered) - website | Posted September 07, 2010 at 17:21:22

Ahh, the "lifestylism" debate.

I'm a big fan of alternative lifestyles as a means of accomplishing something, but not the biggest fan of them as an end in themselves. DIY-ing everything as a matter of moral principle (or for fashion) is only going to end in misery.

Most people who are into this kind of thing, though, stay with it because it is rewarding. But those who are really into things like homebrewing or canning do it because once you have a little experience, you're turning out a product that's far cheaper and of much higher quality than anything you could buy in a store. It took me all of an hour to figure out how to take in pants on a sewing machine, and I don't even know how to measure the time and effort I save by using Linux instead of Windows.

Taking things a step further, though, technologies today are getting closer and closer to the point where cheap, clean household manufacturing can compete on a scale with big corporations. Thanks to the DIY/hacker crowd things like machine shops and 3D scanners are dropping into consumer price ranges, and the growth of things like producer's and buyer's co-ops, a vision of an entire DIY economy starts to take shape.

Oh, and I'm getting in touch with the Co-op folks, too - should have info soon.

"Today, the notion of progress in a single line without goal or limit seems perhaps the most parochial notion of a very parochial century." — Lewis Mumford

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