I think technology is the enabling factor behind the tiny house movement.
Books, CDs, movies, photos, files, paperwork, videogames: all compressed down to the size of a hard drive. So many random gadgets have been replaced by a smart phone, like camera equipment, phones, flashlights, calendars, etc. Now people are ditching TVs as well and just using iPads and laptops to watch video.
There are other more subtle things as well. For example, I haven't needed to iron a shirt in years because nice shirts come out of the dryer looking perfect. So no need for an iron or ironing board.
Then there's service-economy-ification. Most of my neighbors don't mow their own lawn, none of them fix their own cars, and several don't even clean their own house. I wonder how many brew their own coffee? That's a huge amount of equipment that is no longer needed. When I lived in New York, literally 100% of my local friends used wash-and-fold and owned nothing to take care of clothing. A close friend of mine confessed recently that he hasn't prepared a real meal in years; his kitchen cabinets are nearly empty.
The sharing economy is pushing this further. There's a tool-share co-op in my city for those things you need once-in-a-while, like a ladder. Car2Go and ZipCar mean people don't need 2 and 3 car garages at all anymore.
I just finished watching BBS: The Documentary and noticed the same thing. It seemed like everyone they interviewed had an entire room full of old computer equipment. They had boxes of software, walls of hardware manuals, stacks of monitors, cabinets of capacitors and resistors, rows of soldering irons, and at least one fully-equipped workbench.
Up until the past decade or so if you wanted to be a serious computer enthusiast you needed an empty garage; now you just need space on your desk for a Macbook Pro.
i like minimalism but to a point. i have a full workbench for example as i like to fix stuff on m own. not just computers, mind you. i also like creating physical stuff - i think most ppl on HN revolve around creating non-physical stuff most of the time.
i also cook my own food more often than not. both are more economical _and_ i enjoy it.
ive a 800sqft 1 bedroom in sf so its not that small either. workbench isnt in a garage so its pretty compact yet is a real, full featured bench. 2500sqft with unused rooms certainly is way too big tho.
I know what you mean about physical stuff. Many years ago, when I'd finish a cool software project, I couldn't really show it to anyone -- it was just a bunch of gibberish to them. But once I started some wood working... I can still to this day show people my home made computer desk, book cases, etc. But none of my early software hacks still survives.
Someone with 'space on a desk for an apple product' is not really a 'computer enthusiast' just like someone with a mobile phone is not a 'radio amateur'. Yes, the phone contains an advanced radio system, enabling the user to communicate with whomever they want at the flick of a finger. In contrast to a radio amateur the user usually does not know how the thing works other than which buttons to press. The apple user usually knows which buttons to press but show them the nitty-gritty details of how that button press is translated into action on the hardware and their eyes glaze over. A serious computer enthusiast is better off with that wall of hardware, better off with Linux or *BSD than with a closed system, if it is OSX they want to run they're better of with a hackintosh.
Most of the programmers I know use MacBook Pros. Some have hackintosh desktops as a backup, but concede that the hackintosh setups are a pain in the ass compared to an actual Mac. So I'm not sure where you're getting that last part.
Personally, no. I would computer enthusiast requires either building your own computer or having old computers around. This is needlessly pedanic, but it's perfectly fine to be a programming enthusiast.
For instance, my grandpa had a ton of computers from the vic 20 to the IBM PC
If you liked this, you'd probably also like Get Lamp--also by Jason--which is about interactive text adventures in general and Infocom in particular. I'm probably biased because I know a lot of the people in the film but I thought it was great. (And more of a true film than BBS.)
In the 1980s (roughly the period covered by that documentary), you didn't necessarily need to build printed circuit boards and the like. Though a number of people interviewed in the film go back to the very earliest days of BBSs when there was more of that sort of thing.) But, you're basically right. Even if you didn't do a lot of soldering, you generally were building PCs, needed all sorts of cables and miscellaneous hardware, lots of books and other paper.
Things like "not needing to iron a shirt" are nice (basically, labor-saving devices and technology), but doing none of your own cooking, laundry, coffee, mowing, car repair, etc is sad to me.
Life gets more empty when you live an outsourced life. I agree that "stuff" can get toxic, but rather than shooting for owning just a laptop and a single change of clothes, I instead aim to interact directly with my possessions. Do my own maintenance & repair wherever possible. It connects you with what you own, and encourages you to own reasonable things. Why would I want a house with six bedrooms and five bathrooms- I'm the one who will have to repair them!
Of course there are limits; a six-hour service job on my truck will be outsourced, especially as in my hands it would stretch to a twelve-hour job and I want to enjoy my weekend. But repairing my sink or changing the oil take a half hour.
"For example, I haven't needed to iron a shirt in years because nice shirts come out of the dryer looking perfect. So no need for an iron or ironing board."
I'm more in the "minimalism but within a big property" than in the "minimalism within tiny houses" movement but I'm curious about these "nice shirts" that do not need ironing: would you have any brand / links? (genuinely curious for I wouldn't mind getting rid of my iron)
Besides that I find watching a movie on a 15" MacBook or, worse, an iPad to be a terribly bad experience and, honestly, a 42 flat TV (which isn't big by any mean) isn't something that takes up a lot of real estate.
Not related to your comment but I'd say that "minimalism" looks better (for properties, for paintings, for UIs, ...) when there's lots of "free space" around. These tiny houses look kinda weird: I prefer Steve Jobs and his couch + stereo in his big empty living room : )
I think there is a lot of potential for job creation for young and unskilled workers in the domestic service economy. You could have a device guide a service company employee around your house to do things like take your laundry out to be picked up and returned by a laundry company, and pack it back again, do an inventory of what's in your fridge and food cupboard, and do some tidying or cleaning according to instructions the way you want it. You can have it organised that one person can go around several apartments in one day, and make it simple and secure so people can take this up as temporary jobs easily.
I agree wholeheartedly. I spent the last 6 months living a nomadic life, staying in airbnbs, and all my worldy possessions squeezed into a single suitcase and carry on bag. This included an external monitor for my macbook air, walking boots, and well what else does one need really.
Last week I returned to the UK and rented a 2 bed flat, which turned out to be a mistake, I would have been happy in a studio. My decision to rent a 2 bed is based on my previous experience of having books, hifi separates, desktops. So now I'm buying books just to fill out the space and make it look less like I've been robbed. I prefer kindle. I'm definitely downsizing next move.
> I think technology is the enabling factor behind the tiny house movement.
I'm not sure why these stories keep coming up as original. I received my architecture degree in the early 90s and we had an entire studio course that included designing micro structures for dense urban populations. Yet, at least once a year I see a story about this novel new concept.
It's just a little house. If you put them all together in a village format it becomes a mobile home park. But for some reason no one wants to live there. Call it a mini house or micro house and suddenly it's cool. shrug
Nowhere in the interview does the architect say that this is an original idea. She explicitly mentions that it is a growing trend, in fact. And also the words "micro" and "mini" don't appear at all in the article.
This is cool because she did a stunningly beautiful job on an 11,000$ budget. Her aesthetic sensibilities are, from the looks of this project, almost perfectly aligned with mine... but I have none of the talent to create something so beautiful in any medium unfortunately. Wow!
The point I'm trying to make is that this has been a growing trend for more than 30 or 40 years. And every year, sometimes several times a year, we see an article that talks about how great this style of living and building is. But it never goes any further than that.
And the fact that the article doesn't specifically call it a micro, mini or tiny home, does not negate the fact that there is an entire industry that caters to this market.
It's cool that she built it herself, but that's about it.
I agree. I decided to give away my prized collection of books and move to e-books in my quest for minimalism. The only challenge that remains now is my musical instruments. :)
But here's the thing: I can if I wish pay £0 for clothes one year and wear what I already own. What happens if I stop paying the rent on my hired clothes? Or anything else. This is also one of the arguments against cloud computing...
And I can't imagine living on takeout to be healthy or economic in the long term... Be wary of extrapolating from being 23 to even 33 let alone 63.
I am so looking forward to trimming my possessions down to a carryon suitcase and a backpack. Will replace my computer with macbook air, ipad with ipad mini and keep my kindle, get rid of my SLR with small sony pocket camera and be on my way.
I think house in the article is maybe 150sq feet too small, I like to have friends over from time to time. But for one person it is almost perfect.
The retina iPads are higher resolution, color-calibrated and likely higher quality panels then the big screen you're talking about. And you can easily use high-quality headphones to get quality sound out of them as well. Maybe not surround-sound... yet.
Books, CDs, movies, photos, files, paperwork, videogames: all compressed down to the size of a hard drive. So many random gadgets have been replaced by a smart phone, like camera equipment, phones, flashlights, calendars, etc. Now people are ditching TVs as well and just using iPads and laptops to watch video.
There are other more subtle things as well. For example, I haven't needed to iron a shirt in years because nice shirts come out of the dryer looking perfect. So no need for an iron or ironing board.
Then there's service-economy-ification. Most of my neighbors don't mow their own lawn, none of them fix their own cars, and several don't even clean their own house. I wonder how many brew their own coffee? That's a huge amount of equipment that is no longer needed. When I lived in New York, literally 100% of my local friends used wash-and-fold and owned nothing to take care of clothing. A close friend of mine confessed recently that he hasn't prepared a real meal in years; his kitchen cabinets are nearly empty.
The sharing economy is pushing this further. There's a tool-share co-op in my city for those things you need once-in-a-while, like a ladder. Car2Go and ZipCar mean people don't need 2 and 3 car garages at all anymore.
I can't wait to get rid of more stuff!