Living in a teepee with satellite internet...

I get in these moods. You know… the mood where you just want to cut all ties with society, give all your worldly belongings to Goodwill, chuck your phone off a cliff, and head off into the mountains to live off the land. Preferably in the nude.

C’mon, anybody been there?

But Tiffany just remarked on how big of a walking contradiction I am — on the one hand, wanting to live in a teepee in the woods somewhere, and on the other hand having just bought a brand new Apple iMac, iPad, and (previously) an iPhone, and being obsessive about high speed internet. For some reason she even thinks it’s a contradiction for me to be writing a blog post about living off the land… Bah. :-)

But I think that’s where society is going… albeit quite awhile in the future yet. Eventually, everyone will want to be in cooperation with nature as much as possible, instead of the current way we live which is completely at odds with it. That may mean living in a deerskin teepee, an underground cave, a rough-hewn trapping cabin, or a simple treehouse. But it won’t mean technology will disappear — it will simply continue to evolve, and fade into the natural backdrop.

• All technology becomes extremely energy efficient (the “go green” movement is already pushing this).
• Battery technology companies continue to develop smaller, lighter ways of storing energy (car companies are really pushing this).
• Everything becomes battery-powered so it’s not wholly dependent on constant access to a power grid (laptop computers are far superior to desktops because of this, and iPads are even better).
• Everything becomes wireless (satellite internet, wireless computer peripherals, etc).
• Digital signatures become mainstream (the law already says they’re as binding as a written signature, so it’s just a matter of public awareness catching up).
• Printing ceases to happen. (No need to print when you have constant access to mobile internet, and when you can do digital signatures).
• All data and personal files are stored in the “cloud” so that there’s no need for a local storage device (think MacBook Air). Also results in less local power consumption for running hard drives.
• Everything becomes outdoor proof - sturdier construction, better materials, more moisture resistant, less focused on indoor environment. (This is already happening in certain product lines, it’s just a matter of hitting mainstream).

These kinds of things will allow people to live out in the wilderness with nothing but a portable homemade windmill to recharge their their laptop battery. And yet they’ll be completely connected to the rest of the world.

That’s my ideal: living in a teepee with satellite internet.