on the tech beat, getting back to my roots. evangelizing networks empowering the streets. decentralized and democratizing. part of that band of mutants that scavenged usable scraps of machinery to put together our utility belts, our gear fascination, our dinner table etiquette around mobile devices is generationally different than our forbearers. the old tune in turn on drop out left the cities after a while and retreated to wooded hill, to big cliff drop mountain lodge and communal fire, the neo-luddite hippie with an ax to grind but no automatic sharpener. i live in cities. my subsistence strategy revolves around that first stage of enclave in your urban environments. that crash pad is a launching pad as well. but where those of us who live in the margins continue to require a foothold to survive, those who support us appreciate our nomadic perspective, and there is some overlap, no one is truly on the road at all times (except foolish dreamers like me. but even I must own one giant couch for the world to crash on some day)

the bleeding edge is expensive. but early adopters beta tested the kinks and the costs are always falling. the weapons systems found new purpose as hackers and artists looked at their designs and foresaw new applications. tinkerers and do-it-yourselfers transformed the world we live in and we are witnessing it morph before our waking eyes. impossible to predict the future but tracking trends feels rewarding. big upsets come as less of a surprise to the data nomad with his ear to the ground. travel light, stay flexible and pull up camp when you see the terrain shifting around you.

sync your life to the cloud, distributed across multiple services, a global stage with many actors to serve as the checks and balances in a world marxism and capital could not have designed or prophesied. resources become scarce so live lean to begin with. non-state actors and old institutions crumbling threaten the established order, so question fundamental assumptions and stay on top of global developments. surround yourself with the best thinkers of every discipline, young and old, discuss movements and watch for the signs of serendipity to guide your intuitive faculty.

the public bus around the LA metro is a reasonable fare. the screen behind the driver runs advertisements and news reels, the head of the state department cautiously announces preparatory moves against a dictator in Africa. the robot voice announces intersections approaching on the transit line. I mapped this out before I departed, I sent messages ahead to arrange a meeting point, thinking not much further than the next room to sit down in and pour into whoever may listen and share. not much concern with the next meal or which roof to sleep under or how to get back to the stash of longer term possessions - these things will work themselves out in the city and the hours that become days.

as quickly as rails and clocks conquered the landscape and telegraphs linked up the continents, switching stations and routes around everywhere carry ghostly voices, satellites and cell towers birthed new industries and every human grew new prosthesis for telepathy. this quickly integrated into our lives, and became accepted as necessity, while the no-income futurists such as myself waited to buy in to platforms that made sense, looking for ways to hack limbs off of the old business models, he latest and greatest devices don’t come cheaply and the monthly rates they are tethered to make them more expensive than even traditional access to computing power and communications. so my mobile can now send short message service text messages and place voice over Internet protocol calls to wired and wireless telephones for a fraction of the cost of the old way of doing things, and I am one step closer to trimming recurring expenses to bare minimum, willing to invest in the companies that empower the user.

riding thru Hollywood typing up these thoughts with my thumbs, headed to a party. said my parting well wishes to the excellent couple who took me in, even during their own time of need. the kindness we are sharing will continue in the future, this much I know. all the gadgets make it easier to stay connected but it’s the people that make life worth living. travel well, partners.