https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/public/ recent bookmarks from robertogreco 2026-06-06T05:00:25+00:00 https://dougald.substack.com/p/making-special-making-scarce robertogreco dougaldhine 2026 scarcity ellendissanayake art arts behavior human humans adaptation making makingspecial ordinary everyday humanism meaning meaningmaking perfect craft luxury perfection ads advertising aesthetics specialness misoc anthonymccann exceptionalism artificialscarcity manufacturedscarcity gifts https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:db02ca0f3587/ 2026-05-27T08:14:04+00:00 https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026/05/typo-ai-trend-human/687237/ robertogreco errors mistakes typos writing howwewrite 2026 laziness humanism human michaelwaters nicoleellison perfection errata aliceleonard history jamesjoyce zaralarsson petercardon sloppiness humans ai artificialintelligence spelling punctuation care carelessness socialmedia communication https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:a766968b1552/ 2026-02-22T01:22:06+00:00 https://thepointmag.com/examined-life/the-enemy-of-the-good/ robertogreco nicholasclairmont optimization 2026 slow efficiency aella effectivealtruism georgeorwell gandhi fomo mindset humanism perfectionism perfection human humans bertrandrussell life living experience https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:c795c4f0a318/ 2026-01-10T20:22:03+00:00 https://walkingtheworld.substack.com/p/modern-life-is-good-actually robertogreco"It is not the book I intended to write when I began. Preconceptions dropped off one by one as I investigated. The period was not a Golden Age or Belle Epoque except to a thin crust of the privileged class. It was not a time exclusively of confidence, innocence, comfort, stability, security and peace. All these qualities were certainly present. People were more confident of values and standards, more innocent in the sense of retaining more hope of mankind, than they are today, although they were not more peaceful nor, except for the upper few, more comfortable. Our misconception lies in assuming that doubt and fear, ferment, protest, violence and hate were not equally present. **We have been misled by the people of the time themselves who, in looking back across the gulf of the War, see that earlier half of their lives misted over by a lovely sunset haze of peace and security. It did not seem so golden when they were in the midst of it. Their memories and their nostalgia have conditioned our view of the pre-war era but I can offer the reader a rule based on adequate research: all statements of how lovely it was in that era made by persons contemporary with it will be found to have been made after 1914.**" ] I especially struggle taking seriously the “modernity sucks” people who lay the blame on technology and seem to idolize the pre-industrial past. Modern technology is wonderful, and our current problems are not because of the machines, but in how we use them. I was reminded of this with my recent health issue—when a blood test showed I had a risk of prostate cancer, and within two months I was able to walk into a clinic, have a biopsy, and then walk out two hours later, and within a week find out the growths were non-cancerous, and even had they been, my chances of survival were very high. Modern medicine alone should be reason enough to understand how fortunate we are to be living now, surrounded by technology. At almost any other period of time, having made it to sixty in good health would be a great accomplishment, rather than the normal, and I would be nearing the end of my life, rather than having a decent chance of being here two or more decades4. That is a lesson I learned early, from my grandmother, who grew up on a Michigan milk farm, loved going into the grocery store and getting Velveeta cheese5, loved her modern conveniences, and would laugh at the “back to nature” hippies as having no idea how hard life was then. Especially as she had lost her husband at the age of thirty-eight, who dropped dead from a blood clot that had gone to his brain, something modern medicine almost certainly would have caught before it killed him. The problem with modern technology isn’t that it exists, but in how we use it, especially in highly individualistic societies such as the US, which is to go off on our own, into even more solitary lives, removed from community. It is an accelerator of an already existing problem. You can see that in Asian societies with a long-standing cultural emphasis on the communal, such as Vietnam, China, and Indonesia, where a thriving social life still exists, despite the phones. Technology has enriched our lives in so many ways—extending them, lessening pain and suffering, and providing endless diversions—that having to argue that it is in fact a net good seems like an argument that shouldn’t have to be made, yet a “simpler, more rustic, less technologically advanced” lifestyle is one of those images that always has strong appeal, because we romanticize the simple, while forgetting that the simple has never been easy. The romantic appeal of pre-modern life might be about staying busy through constant toil, but actually growing your own food without machines, washing clothes without machines, and keeping your children alive without machines is not easy. Those are immensely hard, painful, and come with a lot of despair. It’s interesting that the people most bothered by technology in the West, and most drawn to a prior lifestyle, are the highly individualistic and idiosyncratic intellectuals—not the “normies,” who when given the chance to choose overwhelmingly want the lifestyle anti-modern elites believe is so destructive. Poor people especially understand something that anti-modernist romantics don’t, which is that every choice involves tradeoffs, and the tradeoff between our current problems and past problems isn’t close. Show a Cambodian peasant, or a farmer in rural Indonesia, the neon lights and indoor plumbing of Phnom Penh or Jakarta, and they will drop their hoe in a second, happily throw away their low-tech supposedly idyllic life, cram onto a bus and move to be simply near them, even if that means living in a shack on the edge of town. That so many of them are drawn to the spectacle, like moths to a flame, is why these cities in the third world are swelling to the world’s largest, engorged with people seeking more glamorous lives. The outskirts of Ulaanbaatar is another example of this. The Ger district, extensive and polluted slums that ring Mongolia’s capital, is where thirty percent of the country lives, having tripled in the last thirty years. Not by force, but because people have shown that they prefer being crammed together, next to hospitals, gaming centers, malls packed with Korean electronics, and the bright lights of the city, to the thousand year old long-standing tradition of being out in the sticks, with your Ger, horses, and a Prius6. People, when allowed to choose, embrace modernity — because they see it as liberation from the hard, bland, boring life of poverty. The counterargument is that they have not been allowed to choose, because of globalization, and the forces of a capitalism that’s made their past lifestyle impossible. There is truth to that. Policy crafted to maximize production without regard to communal consequences has not surprisingly resulted in more stuff but also devalued the communal7. This isn't the only reason for the rural exodus, and not, I think, the primary one, but it's certainly a large part of the story. Economic transitions, from agricultural to industrial, and then from low tech industrial to higher tech industrial, always come with a great deal of turmoil, and displacement, that should and can be better managed, but as to whether it's “worth it”, I come down on the side of yes it is. Which I understand isn’t necessarily the most popular side in the online debate. All of these issues, of progress versus tradition, were debated in England, during the Industrial Revolution, and occupied most of the country’s politics from 1650 to 1850s, and while that period saw a great deal of displacement, confusion, and pain, it also saw an immense increase in living standards. Today, only a few eccentrics argue that things were better before the Industrial Revolution than after, although in the grand calculation of moral right, it certainly came at a significant cost in human suffering. Debating those questions will never end, and won’t be settled, but it is all academic because you can’t stop progress, that isn’t how humans work. You can manage it so the transition is less unsettling, and that is where the focus should be, not on denying that in totality it is the correct direction. That modern life, especially the technology, has enabled governments to expand control of its citizens is another good argument, because as China shows, it is partly true, but as a whole package technology is the enemy of authoritarianism, not its friend, because it allows everyone to be informed. That repressive regimes limit what modern inventions the citizens can have, especially blocking the internet, should be evidence enough, that they see modern life as a threat. That’s not to say modern life doesn’t come with new problems, and that technology can’t be used for ill, but all of that pales in comparison to what people faced in the past. It’s helpful to remember that every now and then. We cannot ever eliminate despair, because living, while filled with the good, is also hard. There is no utopia, not here on earth at least, and the fruitless quest to try and achieve it is why humans can’t stop progressing, and why they also won’t stop believing it was better before. The imperfection of the human condition, and our humble place in the universe, can never be eliminated. Not by more and more machines, and also not by denying the additional good they do bring, but only by an acceptance of our limitations. In that way I suppose I side more with the nostalgics than the full-on modernists, who at least grasp most of that, but then fail to recognize that even a fallen person seeks and needs material comfort. We might never be able to achieve perfection, but we might as well keep aiming for it, and that means continuing to try and move forward, rather than back, because humans, and living, is fundamentally good. "]]> chrisarnade 2026 modernity life living perfection barbaratuchman past history korea philippines florida us technology medicine phnompenh jakarta indonesia cambodia cities urbanism urbanization urban modernitychina community communities sociallife social society lifestyle ulaanbaatar mongolia liberation policy production globalization industrialrevolution displacement confusion pain authoritarianism humancondition https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:34f3e26c3fad/ 2025-07-05T01:55:01+00:00 https://overthefield.substack.com/p/the-enduring-enigma-of-wood robertogreco haddenturner wood materials resistance perfection inconsistency variation variability blemishes organic modernity machines texture nature efficiency ineffiency craft plastic artificiality trees essence beauty scars natural imperfections standardization blandness sameness 2025 wabi-sabi https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:7426120bb7ee/ 2025-05-28T14:12:08+00:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKubRtKguv4 robertogreco vijayiyer 2025 music jazz laradownes creativity improvisation composition musicmaking performance spontaneity borders imagination conversation nationstates nations presence listening perfection collaboration alerness geography language emotion human humanism hearing communication focus life living socialconscience freedom children conviviality companionship personhood love audience defiance faith joy resistance wadadaleosmith breath energy desire purpose hierarchyofneeds abrahammaslow https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:0da3bdf059f9/ 2025-05-24T00:15:09+00:00 https://jackforster.substack.com/p/too-good-for-its-own-good-finishing robertogreco2025 jackforster watches watchmaking craft craftsmanship handiwork rolex grandseiko omega philippedufour perfection kingflum patekphilippe audemarspiguet vacheronconstantin scale manufacturing precision finishing cnc waltham history industrialrevolution antoinenorbertdepatek timex ingersoll steveguveritz breguet hamilton credor georgedaniels rogersmith juan-carlostorres rexheprexhepi rexhepi akrivia movements watchbore luxury expectations instagram socialmedia prices logistics process switzerland watchlaunchpad tonytraina anthonytraina https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:14fb98cfba33/ 2024-12-26T21:50:44+00:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFFNahC1rIg robertogreco peterwaterhouse being mortensøndergaard 2024 time poetry process presence stillness identity memory williamkentridge therefusaloftime bees activity action art life living writing howwewrite travel place death dying language words danish german austria truth acceptance childhood future money now present eternity unfinished incomplete imperfect imperfection perfection harmony wittgenstein succession ingerchristensen paulcelan johannnestroy movement progression industriousness observation reading howweread progress translation unevenness busterkeaton incompleteness https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:c02137a8775d/ 2024-08-19T18:39:18+00:00 https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/19/24221884/google-photos-magic-editor-ai-reimagine robertogreco allisonjohnson photography ai artificialintelligence perfection realtiy 2024 google https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:dc5f4a3d3c42/ 2024-08-07T05:06:29+00:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGZ2wiGGYXI robertogreco 2024 jackforster watches watchmaking perfection imperfection philosophy clocks clockmaking time debethune physics mechanics pendulums accuracy precision reality measurement universe chaos aesthetics impermanence beauty timekeeping denisflageollet nicholasmanousos nickmanousos watchcanon https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:a440e640df0f/ 2021-10-09T18:50:33+00:00 https://kk.org/cooltools/amber-case-2021-mozilla-fellow/ robertogreco ambercase technology lightswitches cooltools footpedals unlockprotocol abletonsoftware 2021 protocols play web internet keyfobs keys cars sound audio software ui ux abletonlive softwaredevelopment music listening perfection perfectionism time persistence https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:8a43aeb4a0ac/ 2020-11-28T02:01:57+00:00 https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/nov/26/maradona-the-footballer-had-no-flaws-maradona-the-man-was-a-victim robertogreco maradona 2020 football futbol jorgevaldano argentina fernandosignorini fame celebrity addiction genius class inequality carlosbilardo perfectionism perfection solidarity naples napoli intensity pleasure pain poverty sports society talent awareness creativity intelligence soccer https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:515d2bb1c804/ 2020-01-03T16:51:53+00:00 https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jan/03/empty-promises-marie-kondo-craze-for-minimalism robertogreco kyleshayka minimalism 2020 life living materialism consumerism maximalism climatechange environment infrastructure apple mariekondo stevejobs cleanliness clutter happiness konmarimethod austerity freedom distraction attention economics joshuabecker courneycarver 2008 2011 capitalism therapy simplicity society civilization excess comodification possessions stuff haording joshuafieldsmillburn ryannicodemus 2010 2017 ownership mobility lifestyle marketing perfection disposability design jonyive form function formfollowsfunction efficiency daisyhildyard shopping instagram aesthetics asceticism https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:7a7a85dd13f3/ 2014-06-16T21:28:59+00:00 http://soulellis.com/2014/03/counterpractice2/ robertogreco paulsoulellis 2014 conterpractice design humility capitalism resistance branding speed slow consumerism sales salesmanship perfection wabi-sabi thingness longevity slowness patience nature chance serendipity generosity potlatch johnmaeda questioning process approach philosophy art print balance thisandthat modulation selling ted tedtalks apple siliconvalley startups culture technology technosolutionsism crisis miltonglaser 1977 love https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:1e3652a4a14f/ 2013-12-09T19:45:50+00:00 http://sparkcamp.com/sparking-connections/ robertogreco events sparkcamp amandamichel andypergam mattthompson amywebb planning values diversity improvisation comfort conferences discussion conversation howto loosely-joined intimacy publicity facilitation eventplanning unconferences experimentation perfection trust inclusion conferenceplanning accessibility inclusivity inlcusivity https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:77452f3da7ae/ 2013-11-14T20:50:30+00:00 http://counterpractice.tumblr.com/ robertogreco paulsoulellis design 2013 resistance marketing branding hope love promise promises ideology capitalism society culture socialmedia robhorning selling salesmanship edwardthall reassessment reevaluation lawrenceweschler robertirwin art walterlandor garyfriedman restorationhardware facebook instagram identity canon sharing validation twitter designerism entrepreneurship benpieratt quantification quantifiedself attention positioning posturing coding perfection pause pausing wandering instantaneity certainty predictability instantgratification ambiguity presence performance slow seeing noticing loneliness honesty questioning listening observing observation counterpractice thingness unproduct analog consumption tsukomogami place local engagement time memory persistence everyday slowness libraryoftheprintedweb kennethgoldsmith books print papernet johncage chance clementvalla surprise delight storytelling problemsolving responsibility openness uncertainty contentstrategy structure iceland giving givingaway vulnerabi https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:f54d420b5f1f/ 2012-09-24T05:24:28+00:00 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Cinema robertogreco tonyrichardson karelreisz directcinema cinémavérité jeanvigo free 1959 1956 1950s manifestos manifesto glvo srg edg filmmaking film style attitude perfection sound small size freedom everyday freecinema documentaries documentary thesoupkitchen lindsayanderson lorenzamazetti wabi-sabi https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:87de2315c5bb/ 2012-02-20T06:54:10+00:00 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204542404577157290201608630.html?mod=WSJ_Magazine_LEFTSecondStories robertogreco daikisuzuki engineeredgarments hyperspecialization hospitality hotels apprenticeships tiny small quintessence shuzokishida restaurants kansai tokyo hitoshitsujimoto realmccoy's nylon magazines jeans craft coffee denim detail perfection food fashion lifestyle economics luxury japan scale https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:8bccc79bfac7/ 2012-02-05T22:06:47+00:00 http://vimeo.com/17904563 robertogreco radicals radicalism directaction democracy perfection methodology idealism practice living antisectarians marxism authority maori madagascar collectivism trust kamikazecapitalism mutualaid bigsociety davidcameron leisurearts labor ows occupywallstreet idleness austerity austeritymeasures affinitygroups revolution history apple creativity creatives lewisbassett reform richardhouguez neoliberalism egalitarianism politics communism exchange greatrecession economics society capitalism anarchy anarchism 2010 davidgraeber artleisure māori globalfinancialcrisis https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:b1d0a7116336/ 2011-07-25T21:20:11+00:00 http://www.theawl.com/2011/07/weekend-at-kermies-the-muppets-strange-life-after-death robertogreco art creativity film copyright muppets puppets perfection human humanism specificity makeshift making craft limitations constraints via:rushtheiceberg doing meaning purpose glvo jasonsegel jimhenson remix remixing remixculture craftsmanship https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:9ce03fe8046a/ 2011-04-27T06:26:12+00:00 http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=92deb2a6027cf972e7298f939&id=e34ea5e4a3&e=a7e7f16a50 robertogreco pscs learning education schools progressive unschooling deschooling stevemiranda pugetsoundcommunityschool lcproject mistakes reflection tcsnmy cv perfection community self-knowledge self-directedlearning 2011 https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:aac1c5b96c28/ 2010-11-21T18:37:41+00:00 http://www.slate.com/id/2275596/pagenum/all/ robertogreco parenting children imperfection learning identity boredom supervision control unschooling deschooling perfection failure happiness unhappiness risk risktaking laissezfaire imagination glvo self teaching cv unstructuredtime https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:9176efa7d97d/ 2010-08-11T20:13:41+00:00 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi robertogreco patina beausage imperfection unfinished aesthetics architecture art beauty buddhism design culture japan japanese simplicity perfection poetry philosophy zen wabi-sabi marceltheroux johnconnell jesserichards coding software refinement via:lukeneff melancholy tcsnmy zenbuddhism https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:8f4929aaf33b/ 2010-07-31T21:14:50+00:00 http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/16-06/st_15th_eno?currentPage=all robertogreco via:preoccupations brianeno davidbyrne kevinkelly interviews art imperfection unfinished music writing 2008 perfectability perfection photoshop human texture glvo conversation learning collaboration wabi-sabi https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:4dccdee133ec/ 2009-12-29T23:35:03+00:00 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz91GfoZ-Zs&feature=fvw robertogreco obsession pizza perfection recipes food specialization anthonymanglieri slow simplicity specialists https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:843940594c4a/ 2009-02-17T19:45:15+00:00 http://www.kottke.org/09/02/art-and-fear robertogreco art process procrastination fear perfection learning teaching education craft tcsnmy psychology https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:15dea26d6ada/ 2008-01-18T15:50:17+00:00 http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/01/the-problem-wit.html robertogreco perfection experience experiencedesign design products services texture interaction business glvo https://pinboard.in/u:robertogreco/b:2ad4e59ef274/