Comments by "Michael Wright" (@michaelwright2986) on "Taking A Philosophical Approach To Linux Minimalism" video.
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I don't agree with that pronunciation you found: the second syllable has the ee sound, and typically the stress is on the second syllable, too. I do know Ancient Greek, btw, and I have thought a bit about asceticism, but I don't always get English pronunciation of Greek words right, so I checked Wiktionary (a good online solution for all your dictionary needs).
I have no problem at all with the from-the-ground-up, learn each tool as you need it, approach to Linux, or any other OS. For many people I'm sure it's the best way to learn an OS, and indeed, since I started on CP/M, I've had something of that trajectory, even though my switch to Linux was pretty much entirely convenience, as I wanted something that's less intrusive and less of a faff than Windows.
But I do have issues about calling that approach ascetic. As I understand it, asceticism is about two things: one is freeing yourself from the complications of unnecessary possessions and material concerns (a kind of wellness play); the other is to simplify your life to the utmost so as to concentrate on ultimate value, whether you think of that value as freedom from all illusions about the nature of "reality", or whether it's something for which the word you reach for is god, or the divine.
The minimalist approach to Linux (why not Gentoo?) would certainly not leave anyone with much time to think about anything else, but if you take the asceticism angle seriously, it would seem to imply that the ultimate concern is, indeed, Linux. Nothing wrong with that, as long as you don't frighten the noobs who are just looking for a better Windows than Windows (where have I heard that before?); but I'm not sure whether many historical ascetics would agree with it (though, how monastic are the Shao Lin martial arts monks?)
Another practice that goes with asceticism is anchoritism, the practice of withdrawing into a secluded or solitary life as an anchorite or hermit (all anchorites are ascetics, but not all ascetics are anchorites). Hmmm. Anyone going to talk about basements?
The notion that someone who's become one with Linux, as described, would be happy with macOS is a bit laughable. Sure, it's BSD underneath, with a funny kernel, but Windows is supposed to be VMS underneath, and when ordinary people talk about those OSes they are thinking of the DE (there's not even a Mac server edition these days, is there), and I hate the modern Mac experience because it's as opinionated as Gnome, and far too eager to leap in and do what it thinks you want it to do.
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