Digital Hunter Gatherer

A concept I’ve not heard yet— a “digital hunter gatherer”. We already have this notion of a “digital nomad”— but why not the hunter gatherer lifestyle?

1. Walking around all day

To start, if we are hunter gatherers, we must walk around all day. No sitting in chairs. If we want to rest, squatting down, maybe sitting on a tree stump, or maybe lying down on our backs to take a nap. But it does seem that the reason why humans evolved the way we did (biped) is in order for us to walk long distances in a day (10+ miles) with little fatigue compared with our 4-legged animal friends.

2. Why digital?

If you can create a business or become self employed in a manner which allows you to work anywhere with an internet connection (4G or WiFi), this seems optimal. Why? Your body, power, and influence can transcend physical space. For example if you blog, theoretically 10 million people can read your blog at the same time, from all around the globe. If you’re stuck to physical space (the non digital world), you are constrained to the tyranny of physical and embodied reality.

3. Is the hunter gatherer the best life?

Not necessarily. If you prefer to be a sheep, being a hunter gatherer might not be desirable to you.

I don’t think there is a “best”life in an ultimate sense. It’s more about your personal ethics and aesthetics.

For myself personally, I think living like a hunter gatherer is far more badass than being a farmer. To be a farmer seems boring. I’d rather be more like a wild beast and predator, exchanging comfort and security to a life of thrill and danger.

Furthermore, assuming I could be a lean and muscular hunter gatherer (or a emaciated potato farmer), I’d be the hunter gatherer anyday.

4. Living like a hunter gatherer in modern times

Hunting”: The rush and thrill perhaps that comes from street photography, from powerlifting, from taking social risks, or building companies or entrepreneurial endeavors.

Gathering: Pattern searching, growing and building things, and storing and saving things (like saving cash in the bank).

Thought in a digital way:

Assuming you’re walking all day, perhaps best to do all your computing on a phone or other mobile device.

6. Aiming for hyper lightweight

It seems if you’re hunting and gathering all day, ideally you want to be as lightweight and unburdened as possible. The lighter your bag, the further you can travel with less fatigue.

Also, perhaps from a digital perspective, we shouldn’t strive to “hoard” onto our digital information. We should delete more stuff. In my eyes, hoarding digital stuff is almost equivalent to hoarding physical things (imagine your mom’s garage or basement).

7. Live your own life according to your own ideals

There isn’t an ultimate way to live your life. My suggestion is to ruthlessly self-experiment until you discover what works ideally for you, and always strive to make it better.

For me, it is this digital hunter gatherer notion. More turbo thoughts to come!

ERIC