The written word. Just think about how much that has completely revolutionized communication all around the world. We can receive firsthand accounts of events from thousands of years in the past, on the other side of the world, from a civilization that hasn't existed since the Pyramids. We can learn the sagas and myths of countless cultures around the world. There's a good reason that the very act of writing itself was considered magical for eons. In many ways, it still is.
On dhat note, dhe English language is kwite inkonsistent on letter pronunsiashion. I think it kould do widh a refresher on how letters work or just do a round of simplifikashion on sounds instead of being a Frankenstein fokusing on where the word kame from.
The written word is well and good, but writing and reading didn't become common among everyone until some figured out how to mass-produce writings. The modern world, easy access to education, and many battles for equality and freedom, they couldn't have happened without printed books. We can learn about the sagas and myths of countless cultures around the world without being a noble or a monk or a scribe, and without knowing the original language. So.. Books. The magic in writing became so much more powerful with books.
Youd still need writing invented first
i actually think plumbing is the thing we'd miss most if it suddenly vanished - collecting water and getting rid of human waste would be horrible chores. Also it's always so nice being able to turn a tap and drink fresh clean water,
Raspberry Pi.
I love how such a small computer can overpower many of the computers I had for much of my life. And still overpowers moat of the old computers people still has today in my country.
Plus the things you can do with it. I used mine to download stuff, run a plex server, home assistant, pihole. It's such a great addition to your home network.
Consumer 3D printing. I still can’t get over the fact that I’m able to get a device for only a few hundred bucks that lets me manufacture almost any kind of simple widget on-demand in a matter of hours. It feels like I’m living in the future.
I've been considering a 3D printer for quite some time. Do you recommend FDM or SLA?
What kind of things do you print? How often do you use it? Does it just collect dust? What kind of hobbies do you have and does a 3D printer support/enhance it?
I went back and forth and have both, but ultimately I’ve ended up enjoying FDM a lot more. It really depends on both what you want to accomplish, and how much you’re willing to spend.
I started off with a cheap Ender 3 V2, used it for a little while, then stopped using it as it was a nightmare having to level it and calibrate it constantly. After that I got an Elegoo Mars 2 Pro as I wanted to be able to make prints without all the mechanical complexity of a FDM printer. It was nice for a while, but I ended up not using it as much because I realized that I enjoyed making functional parts a lot more than art/display pieces like miniatures.
I ended up biting the bullet and getting the best printer I knew of at the time: the Prusa i3 MK3S+. I got the kit version so that I could save some money. While I wouldn’t get another kit, I do think that everyone should get a printer that they need to build from scratch at least once. I learned about every single piece of the machine in detail as I went along, and I now clearly understand what people mean when they use terms like “gantry”, “idler”, “heat break”, etc.
After assembly, the MK3S+ was effortless to use in comparison to the Ender 3. It completely changed my mind in regards to what FDM printers could be. I was even able to get some incredibly detailed sculptures out of it (though, of course, not at the level of a resin printer, but still). This printer has been my main workhorse ever since, and I’ve been using it basically nonstop for all kinds of different projects. It’s even paid for itself with a side business I’ve been running by selling parts to people on FB Marketplace.
Overall, I’d personally advocate for FDM. It is far more versatile than resin in terms of print durability, functionality, cleanliness, and size. It’s even cooler if you get into some light CAD design for making your own parts. Even if you want to make detailed models with it, you can always just swap to a smaller 0.2mm nozzle, print at a lower layer height, and get very detailed prints.
I am into woodworking, custom keyboards, gaming, and a whole host of other hobbies (including 3d printing, haha) FDM is definitely the most useful for my personal hobbies, though I have been interested in Warhammer 40K lately, so maybe a new resin printer is on the horizon for me, who knows.
Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide, but if I had to suggest a good start, I’d go with FDM unless you really want to make minis.
I'd stay away from SLA, I'm told uncured resin can be quite toxic.
Quick Google: "Short-term exposure to resin fumes can result in dizziness, headaches, and throat irritation. The long-term risks are unknown due to lack of research, but may include increased risk of cancer."
Living in Texas, atm my favorite technology is air conditioning!
Currently the Steam Deck. Between having (most of) my whole Steam Library availble, being able to run EGS/GOG via Heroic Launcher and all the emulators available, it's like having my entire gamining history all in one machine.
Plus in Desktop Mode it's pretty much a full-on desktop Linux PC as well.
I've been considering this or the ROG Ally to replace my aging desktop
Go for a Steam Deck, the community and software openess makes it all worth it and it'll last longer than the Ally
I'd probably go with the Linux kernel. It's the basis of a fantastical operating system, and used in computing almost everywhere.
That's a tough one, but I think I'm going to go with my ebike. That thing has paid for itself several times over by replacing 90% of car trips, and it's just so much fun! I cut through parks and follow urban trails to work rather than getting stuck in traffic.
I feel that for the rentable e-bikes and e-kick scooters. No need for overcrowded buses or car queues. No need to be afraid my bike is gonna get stolen when i park it. They are everywhere in the city. And is often faster than the bus too.
Just too bad some people cant park them properly, cant follow simple rules, and cant not try to ruin them.
Over the last couple years, kubernetes. It completely changed the game and the ecosystem growing up around it is both exciting and refreshing compared with the old way of managing servers.
I’ve been surprised not to see this with any of the fediverse platforms I’ve browsed. Instead, they’re all using Docker Compose. Any idea why that is?
k8s have a steep learning curve comparatively. With Docker you just install the Docker package and it’s off to the races. With k8s you need to know basically how Docker works, know how the layers it adds on top work, and define everything using YAML config files to get things up and running. The networking is complicated (but flexible), the storage isn’t straightforward (it’s designed to work with large-scale solutions like S3 or Ceph, so setting it up even for local “folder” storage requires more moving parts). Even bootstrapping a new installation requires many steps to install all the pieces you need.
Don’t get me wrong it’s awesome, but if you don’t already know it, it doesn’t have many advantages for small installations over Docker which is very much “run docker-compose on this file you downloaded and the thing you want sets itself up”.
While there are tools like Helm or Portainer to assist you, you still have to understand it to make it work.
Complements on a cool question.
Maybe glassblowing. Inert, airtight containers in any shape you want, made from common minerals. Siphons are also neat, and I didn't know about them until a surprisingly old age. Ditto for diving bells.
Computers. There is no limit to what they can do. You put a computer to measure time, temperature, the weather; and you can use it to plot all those things in nice graphics. The way you can make computers relate to nature just outline how fundamental it is to science.
Raspberry Pi.
I love how such a small computer can overpower many of the computers I had for much of my life. And still overpowers moat of the old computers people still has today in my country.
I think I would say the pocket digital camera, I guess specifically the phone camera. Being able to quickly snap a picture of my kids doing random things over the last 10 years has meant some amazingly beautiful trips down memory lane when I either go looking for a particular photo, or my photo app throws up a curated memory.
Obviously for everyday reasons I'd say computers, internet, electricity and functional plumbing.
Now getting fancy, I think microscopes are amazing. I haven't used them a lot unfortunately but whenever I had the chance they got addictive pretty fast. They reveal another world that exists right here, that we can't perceive, and I'm always mesmerised. Microphotography doesn't scratch the same itch, there is something about inspecting your own sample .
I heard this episode of 99pi last week. The more I think about it, the more I like nails.
A lot of different pieces of tech I use come to mind. I guess because it's the most recent piece of tech I use but I'm gonna say Graphene OS. I've never felt like I've had this much control over my smart phone before while still having 99.99% of the functionality of my previously owned, much more privacy invading phones.
Other than that honorable mentions go out to my Linux distro of choice, Artix Linux. Runit and s6 are great init systems, and pacman and the AUR are fantastic to boot.
Suckless terminal, tmux, and NeoVim also get honorable mentions as well.
I am really a fan of my (induction) stove/oven, my dishwasher, my washing machine and my vacuum and my central heating. Fulfills the basic needs, which I value quite high.
Despite their durability flaws, Folding phones are ❤️
Kind of a typical response, but my android's custom os. I think the OnePlus 8t is fantastic, BUT specifically thinking of the custom rom (Nameless13) I installed on it to replace OOS
I'm not that old, but I still came from flip phones and nokias, so the amount of evolution is incredible
I like this custom rom so much because as a tech savvy user, I can have it do whatever I want. It has an insane amount of QOL features, fantastic support team, better battery life, better responsiveness and energy usage, frequent and reliable updates, devs pushing out good features that users actually want, no bloatware ads or BS, a ridiculous amount of options and customization, and full control. The only single drawback was the stress and effort of learning how to install a custom rom, but it felt extremely rewarding and as someone in IT, it's something good to learn. Plus having super nice and helpful support team and users both, made it way easier
End-to-end encryption is my favorite technology.
- Prevents those with power from spying on everyone and ossifying their power
- Protects communications from smaller scale malicious actors
Fire making. It's a bunch of different techs, but taken collectively they're the foundation of almost every other human technology, and the reason for our survival, and the first things that we did to say "I don't just live in this world, I also reshape it."
"FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!" - Beavis.
Or, as a market-based solution: TurboTax raised the price for small business returns to about the same as hiring and accountant. So, now I just hire an accountant.
Wrong discussion
