Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin
Ask HN: Recipes for Digital Boondocking?
8 points by decentrality on Jan 24, 2015 | hide | past | favorite | 5 comments
In the United States, the Department of Interior is said to maintain vast amounts of public land which is free for use by citizens prepared to survive outside the infrastructure the majority depend on.

I want to know:

Who has succeeded in living on this public land for 30-90 days at a stretch, while still conducting full-capacity F/OSS development and/or business operations based purely on the internet?

Where ( roughly ) did you do this? When is the best season there, and what are the main weather or terrain concerns to be aware of?

It seems like 4G or 4G LTE access would be key to this. I can't see satellite being that workable. Right? I'm looking for areas which have a strong enough signal, while still being remote... ideally 50-100 miles from the nearest major city.

What type of vehicle(s) or dwellings worked best for this, and what type of computer and networking equipment?

How did you produce or obtain energy, food, and water?



I've heard you can camp in national parks/forests for weeks at a time but must move periodically.


So far, per the Bureau of Land Management, at least in the New Mexico/Texas/Oklahoma/Kansas territory ( for example ), it seems the law is one may occupy some/most undeveloped zones for 14 days at a stretch ( within one 28-day period, whether in one shot or split up over the 28 days ) but then must move 25 miles away after that before returning. Presumably 28 days later. There are other stipulations like no less than 800 feet from a water source, no less than 300 feet from an established road. Etc.

Actually all these figures, except the number of days, seem to vary from source to source. It'd be nice if there's someone who has experience who knows... and where 4G LTE access is still intact in these dispersed camping territories.


Where can I find more information about this?


Why would one do that?


"why?" is a preferential or motivation diagnosing question, which is subjective. But "why not?" is nearly rhetorical here.

To have the talents and capabilities of the digital world, able to immerse in any culture, be all but completely self-contained without any geodependency and without any real reason to be built on presuppositions of the world we naturally replace/displace... is a perspective and place of objectivity we really cannot afford to let pass by en masse. Not to tangent on this part: but we talk about cryptocurrencies, but most of the time that's just being converted into a pre-existing form of exchange and with it, continuation of a pre-determined end-result context. The world isn't going to change because we never step out of it completely... we still fit within most of the trappings somewhere along the way.

True, some roles need brick & mortar, but how many of us sit behind a desk when we could just as easily be out in a field or sitting in the very center of whatever our focus is: on site with the very people we're developing for, or operating on behalf of, etc...

There is a "participatory anthropology" piece here, definitely an agile methodology multiplier by exposure to the domain... both with removal of insulation and a closing of the gap between the environment we actually do exist in, and our otherwise parallel universe of artificial ( and for that reason highly precarious and/or compromising ) contexts?

This is a very long conversation, I only said the above so saying "why not" wouldn't be interpreted as curt or flippant... but really, "why not"? How easy is it to loose touch with the real plot from within our silos? Are the water-tight ( or only semi-permeable ) compartments between various people and communities worth it, or are they mostly a liability? Why not be mostly self-determinate by default, able to do whatever we want to do on our own steam... and then receive and carry out a task. So often the task comes in first, then on the way to our "end" the "means" is just bolted on from not precedent but assumption and norm, which is the very thing we most disrupt by introducing digital systems and thought into an already moving organic world, not to mention one with history already in progress, and disproportionate clumping together of people purely because that's where electricity, sewer, water, and now internet access and creature comforts are already setup. We can even keep most of the amenities! I'm just saying, how are people currently carrying out this digital nomad way of living while still remaining completely on the edge of their field, meaning: completely equipped, not lacking anything we had in our cubicles and office complexes... except dependency, pre-determination of what the "form" of our organizations and products and cultures will be, even a little bit.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: