Permacomputing

Permacomputing is a computing design philosophy which aims to improve the resilience by using regenerative design in computer and network technology. It is inspired by permaculture. Permacomputing approaches to computing often involve paying more attention to the life-cycle of hardware (including re-use and designing for older hardware), using low-level languages such as FORTH to facilitate that and foster a more mindful relationship with technology.

History

Permacomputing was coined by Finnish artist and writer Ville-Matias “Viznut’’ Heikkilä in an essay on their website, , although it has earlier roots in a talk given by Kent Beck titled "Programming as a garden: Permaprogramming", as well as Amanda Starling Gould's 2017 doctoral dissertation on "Digital Environmental Metabolisms" which treats digital networking as a kind of geography.

Principles

Permacomputing generally centers on a set of principles:

• Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst: designing for resilience even when you do not expect issues;
• Care for All Hardware — Especially the Chips: pay attention to the digital foundations of technology and aim to avoid producing waste;
• Observe First: assess what is valuable, beautiful, and necessary before taking action;
• Not Doing: do not assume that technological progress is necessarily beneficial;
• Expose The Seams: make the meaning, motivation, and materiality of software design tangible and visible;
• Consider Carefully The Interaction Between Simplicity, Complexity and Scale: do not assume that a simple system is necessarily better, and avoid scaling up for its own sake;
• Keep It Flexible: make systems adaptable to different purposes and circumstances;
• Build On Solid Ground: avoid becoming strongly dependent on systems, platforms, or formats that may change rapidly;
• (Almost) Everything has a place: avoid thinking of the history of technology as a linear story of progress and obsolescence, and value diversity;
• Integrate Biological And Renewable Resources: encourage the greater integration of computational resources with sustainable and renewable materials.

Self-obviating systems

A design principle in line with permacomputing is the self-obviating system, which is a system which intends to render itself unnecessary. In this paradigm, abandonment of the technology does not represent failure; for example, users may abandon a digital exercise system because they move onto other forms of exercise, like running outdoors or attending a gym, so that the system becomes unnecessary to them.

See also

• Hundred Rabbits, an art collective working in the tradition of permacomputing
• Solarpunk