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PrivacyTwo Pelican 1615 cases for storage, 1535 as carry-on; standing desk at home; travel router + zero-trust network for secure connectivity anywhere.
Simplicity isn't deprivation—it's speed. Owning less reduced my surface area for stress and made decisions cheaper. I didn't "opt out" of the world. I just made room for the parts I care about.
Open source is not charity. It is independence infrastructure. Each published package removes one external dependency. A sovereignty diagram for builders.
Laptop died. Went tablet + remote servers + AI agents instead. Two weeks in—what works, what breaks, why I am not going back.
Privacy is a precondition for freedom. Encryption protects everyone. Mass scanning proposals like 'Chat Control' risk both.
I lived the gear-heavy life—boxes, shelves, backups of backups. It felt safe, but the drag was real. Now I own almost nothing: a car, a computer, and gear that compresses into two Pelican 1615 cases. I never travel with checked luggage—I only travel with a Pelican 1535 carry-on. Oddly, I’m more productive and more connected than before.
Minimalism isn’t monk-mode. I run a modern stack, collaborate, ship, and consume like anyone else:
My laptop died. Instead of replacing it, I replaced the concept. I switched to a tablet with a keyboard as my only device. Everything else runs on remote servers.
Why it works:
This wasn't planned—a dead laptop forced the question. But constraints reveal what's essential. Turns out, I didn't need a laptop. I needed a screen, a keyboard, and a connection.
For the full breakdown of this setup, see No Laptop, No Problem: Tablet + Remote Servers as a Dev Rig.
Minimalism isn’t the goal; it’s a tool. The point is freedom—time, attention, and the ability to move when it matters. Owning less didn’t make me smaller; it made my life lighter and my work sharper. I’m still fully plugged in—just without the drag.
If this resonates, the rest of my notes live under the Freedom category.
