The things you really need or The New Austerity

There's a lot of talk around about the new austerity. Bruce Sterling writes a brilliant adieu as his last note - or rather sermon - for the Viridian Design Movment, an essay on how to over-ride the financial crisis and use it to create a better life for yourself, stripping down to the things you need, functionally and emotionally.  "You need to re-think your relationship to material possessions in terms of things that occupy your time. " It's his vision of how to outgrow the 2oth century:

There's a lot of talk around about the new austerity. Bruce Sterling writes a brilliant adieu as his last note - or rather sermon - for the Viridian Design Movment, an essay on how to over-ride the financial crisis and use it to create a better life for yourself, stripping down to the things you need, functionally and emotionally.  "You need to re-think your relationship to material possessions in terms of things that occupy your time. " It's his vision of how to outgrow the 2oth century:

You will need to divide your current possessions into four major categories.

1. Beautiful things.
2. Emotionally important things.
3. Tools, devices, and appliances that efficiently perform a useful function.
4. Everything else.

Being Bruce Sterling, stripping himself of useless possesions don't necessarily mean using fewer words, but the ones he uses are, as ever, hugely entertaining. .