Digital Nomad, a now somewhat forgotten book which was first published in 1997, was one of the first major books which explored and hypothesized a near-future world where office buildings, and the commuter culture which so many people despise, have been rendered obsolete by mobile technologies which allow people to earn a reliable income from anywhere on the planet they choose.
It is a dream for many young men in the west to be a digital nomad and become location independent, chiefly via running an online business. If it happens to become successful, they are free to escape the “feminism” (female superiority) and degeneracy of their homegrown countries, and instead set up shop in one of the world’s premier love tourism destinations like Rio de Janeiro, Medellin, Poland, the Philippines, or the Ukraine among others.
Brasil – C’mon player, you know you want it. 😉
The pull factors are certainly very enticing. Even though they have unique drawbacks like any other place, they are (mostly) modestly priced spots where women still act, dress, and carry themselves like women. In short, the antithesis of overpriced feminazi cesspools like Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, San Francisco, or Toronto for example.
Places like Chiang Mai in Thailand are very popular for Digital Nomads too, especially for people who are just starting out in the game or aren’t particularly concerned with chasing women or taking part in stupid (and exploitative) Elephant-riding tours all day.
But is the digital nomad lifestyle truly achievable for the masses as we are approaching the closing years of the 2010’s? And just how accurate was the pivotal 1997 book in predicting our world about 20 years down the line? Here I will review some important quotes from the book, with all occurring within the first 25 pages of the publication.
“Over the next decade, technology will deliver us a range of tools that will give us all the facilities of our homes and offices – in our pockets.”
Mostly correct. While smartphones did not really become ubiquitous until the 2010’s, it’s timing prediction was only a couple of years off. However, many people would argue that not “all” of the facilities of our home offices are suitable for a mobile phone.
“Governments naturally hate nomads. They are difficult to tax and impossible to control. Therefore to governments they have traditionally represented a threat.”
Absolutely correct. First world governments hate their citizens being taken out of the local taxation pool, and want everyone to be “on the grid” for social control. Unfortunately, this bureaucratic desire is why so many jobs, which could otherwise be completely location independent, require workers to be entirely on-site in super expensive cities like San Francisco.
“At the moment, we do not have the ability to communicate by video link between any two points on the planet. But we will have it, and it will generally be affordable, within ten years. We will be able to see people, documents and pictures wherever they happen to be, from anywhere we happen to be.”
Correct. Video calls became more common and affordable by the late 2000s, and by the 2010’s certain applications like Skype and Whatsapp have done away with the cost of video calling, texting, or sending pictures and documents completely.
“With a link into the internet, anyone can already access exactly the same information as a travel agent.”
Correct. Websites like Expedia and Skyscanner have entirely killed off the need for travel agents, and they save yourself a commission fee while your at it. Good riddance to them.
“For some workers – those tied to the production line in a factory, or to a particular person, like a secretary – there will not be any benefit to be gained from the new technologies.”
Correct. Only those who work with computers and communications technology can truly benefit from the digital nomad experience. Certain skilled tradesmen (like electricians or oil & gas workers) can take their skills globally, but they will have to be fixated at certain areas and they may require additional licensing that I.T. workers don’t have to deal with.
“Universities could become ‘virtual’, setting courses and conferring degrees without the physical manifestations of buildings or campus”
Correct. Online degrees have become common in the 2010’s, and with how ridiculously expensive and Marxist most American campuses have become, it boggles the mind as to why they are not ubiquitous. $40,000 a year is a lot of money to pay for white guilt indoctrination and “safe spaces”.
“The technology, of course, affords both possibilities. It can create the ultimate ‘couch potato’, someone who never leaves the living room sofa, or the ultimate nomad, someone who is forever on the move.”
Absolutely spot on. While those with discipline and drive can make the most out of being a digital nomad, the information overload and non-stop distractions of Youtube, Pornhub, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Netflix are detrimental to legions of others.
“Women have always been seen as more inclined to settle down than men – would cheap, available nomadism lead to even more disintegration of family life in the west than we are already experiencing? Or will it be the women who take off?”
This is left open to interpretation since it’s presented in the form of a question, but yes, digital nomadism has led to an explosion of travel obsessed women who wish to take endless narcissistic photographs and ride the cock carousel until they are in their mid 30’s. At which point, they think they will still be entitled to a Beta male provider who will completely overlook her rapidly declining looks and sky-high notch count when she wants to “settle down”.
This has been one of the single most unfortunate backlashes of modern technology, and it is indeed leading to the disintegration of family life.
Conclusion
Overall, Digital Nomad was an enjoyable (if somewhat archaic) read which very accurately predicted the not-too-distant future of mobile communications technologies. Unfortunately, the books sense of optimism has not really come to fruition for untold numbers of wannabe digital nomads.
It is extremely difficult to earn a truly GOOD living via nomadism alone, and the sheer amount of hours that many people have to put into their businesses can negate all of the gains of wanting to be a perma-traveler in the first place.
As much we love entrepreneurship in the manosphere, one should not necessarily have to feel guilty about holding down an office or engineering job from time to time, especially if you are clearing $100k or more (which most digital nomads aren’t getting anywhere close to).
In closing, consider this book if you want to take a trip down memory lane and appreciate it’s accurate foresight, but don’t get discouraged if your digital nomad aspirations won’t become a reality. This book assumes it will become the norm, but for at least 95% of people that’s just not going to happen.
Read Next: Is Digital Technology Destroying The Middle Class?
Clearing 100,000 plus isn’t going to happen for 95% of people, where they are is irrelevant. There are a LOT of people out in fly over country who make less than 30,000 and get by ok.
Unrelated to the article I guess but, I really dislike thinking of someone making a good living working on the Internet in some 3rd world backwater when I’m sitting in my little corner of the good old USA and can’t get high speed internet lol. ( I have satellite internet which is almost like sending smoke signals).
Haw-haw.
“Clearing 100,000 plus isn’t going to happen for 95% of people” – plus telecomuting makes it easier to hire people in low wage locales, including foreign countries where you can hire engineers for less than US minimum wage. The challenge, of course, is managing these remote people, who may be in a distant time zone on another continent. You can’t walk into their office and spend an hour discussing a project or some other issue. You fire off an email and wait for the answer to come back tomorrow. This means that your distant nomad workers need to be able to work independently with minimal supervision. Those people can be hard to find.
Hiring foreign workers abroad is passe, the “in thing” is to bring them over as modern-day indentured servants via the literally unlimited supply of H-1B visas.
Since the average foreign “engineer” doesn’t know his ass from his elbow, you hire on an American to give them a remedial crash course in whatever it is that the H-1Bers were hired on to do, and then can the American.
And, if companies should find that they really need an American for something, they can pay him peanuts as the glut of H-1Bers who work for slave wages has severely depressed wages in all “white collar” fields.
Yes and no. I agree that hiring foreign freelancers is passe, but multinationals are still setting up shop overseas. My employer has large campuses in China, India and other countries and is busily adding headcount there.
You are right about companies bringing in H1-Bs to depress wages. Every time I visit galactic HQ in Silicon Valley I have to wonder which country I’m in.
When capitalism and government team up to anally penetrate their constituents…
Unless the folks shipped to the USA as H-1B indentures are the worst and dullest of the lot, I shudder to think of how much of a pain it must be to set up shop in these 3rd world countries.
Hopefully the companies setting up shop in China and India will receive a reckoning from The Donald.
Even without him, they’ll get their comeuppance, it’ll just take an eternity and be without recourse as the Chinese will steal the intellectual property and gin up knockoffs.
IMO it’d be better to stop it now, before companies like Boeing put themselves out of business that way.
Let’s just share this classified Helo spec with our Chinese partners via our Canadian shell corporation…. and… it’s gone!
“the Chinese will steal the intellectual property and gin up knockoffs.” This happened to multiple acquaintances of mine in China. It’s a dark decision to move manufacturing to china. The military or government can seize “your” facility any time they want. My friend’s hairdryer company isn’t even allowed in their own plant! Even the CEO is not allowed to go see his hairdryers being made lol. I wonder who’s making them?
They probably subbed it out to malaysia or cambodia and just take the spread.
IRT to your internet connection;
Get ready for American infrastructure/quality of life to smoothly slip into mediocrity on a world-wide scale without anyone really noticing.
It’s already mediocre by some standards in countries you’d never expect to have kick ass internet. It will instead stagnate into a greater money grab for little but incremental improvement, if any. Case in point, Sprint.
No shit. Internet is slower than many 2nd world countries. Cell phone and internet service is more expensive here than anywhere I’ve been on the planet. Our transportation system in the USA is horrendous.
The only serious form of transportation we have is airlines and they are outdated, especially considering the TSA–we basically revamped the entire methodology of prepping for a flight, but the airports are all designed around the pre-2001 system and it makes for a nightmare. The waits on the tarmac are insane. Plus delays, missed connections, mechanical problems, etc.
What does America have to brag about, as far as quality of life goes? Crime is the main thing I can think of. Crime rates are pretty good in US. Although murder rates and health are considerably worse than the developed world and petty crime (small theft) goes unpunished.
I currently get paid approximately 6000-8000 dollars /a month working on the internet. Those who are ready to finish easy computer-based tasks for few hrs daily from your sofa at home and gain decent checks while doing it… This is ideal for you… http://2.gp/G8zm
sfdad
The nomadic style of life never created any proper civilization. People need to be stationery and form trustful communities in order for crafts and arts to thrive.
The globalists are promoting this and it is the reason why so many mediocre people can make a living simply by posting youtube videos.
Supply and demand, my friend.
Manufactured s/d.
Real men create tangible objects with their hands at day and solve complex math/physics problems at night.
So art is intangible?
It depends what you call art.
Does something become tangible by being according to your taste?
In a sense. “Invisible Art” only becomes tangible depending upon taste, and modern art such as Fountain only becomes art depending upon “taste”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Duchamp_Fountaine.jpg
Only if it serves some sort of purpose. Then, again, it is subject to tastes, but more to the willingness of enthusiasts to dish out their hard earned coin for it.
It could be that it is incorporated as part of product enhancement and/or marketing ploy to further the product’s appeal to the buyer. Think of a mug with nice art on it.
Can you touch it ?
And assholes like you have some flat slob just take your earnings away from you in exchange for 3 blow jobs a decade. Congratulations, earner! High production…low T. Great combo there!
hehehe tell him
This 1000X. Some people cannot get it through their thick skulls that we haven’t been nomads since we were hunter gatherers and that human evolution was sparked by us starting farming (in a set geographical region) and forming cities.
A community formed by a tribe is like a fortress with its own unique identity and rituals (like every city or town in Spain for example) and from then on, countries began to form as we know today.
A stationary society is able to form some sort of industry and open trade routes. Money is being harvested by the industry which leads to more industry and grandiose architecture in which the locals take pride and a stable community with neighbours, football clubs, community clubs and churches.
Nomads are tent people with no attachment to the place who roll in tents. Gypsies come to mind.
Top post!
But it’s not truly nomadic. Working from home means just that, working from home….in your community.
I thought the article was more about living abroad with a low cost of living and working your same tech job.
Although I approve of that, I also really like the idea of working from home in your community. There is so much waste in our society, and one obvious area is paying huge amounts of money for a desk and computer for me to work at. I have an office with the option to work from home (which I do 90% of the time). Most people don’t need a duplicate space, and it’s really wasteful.
Another example is the huge amount of retail shopping space we have here. I read America has more retail stores per consumer than anywhere the world, by a factor of several TIMES the next country.
It’s driving our consumerist culture. But it’s also a huge waste of our spaces. Do we really need an MRI clinic in this strip mall because Susie is too lazy to drive down to the hospital like everyone did before her? Do we need 3 competing drugstores on a street corner, all selling the same products for highly similar prices?
The ideologues will respond every time without thinking “Oh, you know, it’s whatever the market will bear.” Well, the market is a group of uneducated masses, who are about to elect Hilary Clinton as president. They don’t always make the wisest decisions, and having a permanent 0% interest rate economy with massive strip malls selling disposable cheap Chinese items on credit to a nation full of unemployed people is not a recipe for prosperity.
Definitely agree. We need real life communities. I think it’s okay for a man to have his nomadic period for personal growth.
Or maybe that was their scheme. Ostracize all the smart american guys so they abandon ship, instead of starting a revolution at home.
Definitely agree with your second paragraph. It cannot be anything but their plan bit the sad thing is that they don’t lack lakeys to do their bidding. IF not theyll just import it or outsource it.
“Nomads are tent people with no attachment to the place who roll in tents. Gypsies come to mind”
The other group of nomads in the western world are likely to be drop outs who have become 1000% disillusioned with the current state of affairs. Indeed it’s quite easy not to give a fuck when one living in a growing dystopia today.
The other group of western nomads (extremely small percentage) are men who literally have gone to live off of the land and have the know how to do so (and one needs to know a lot – 99% of us do not have such knowledge and training) in a remote part of the planet. They also have the physical stamina and the mental stamina not to want to be around another human being. This sounds ironic when one has misanthropy, but living indefinitely without human contact can be grueling and impossible for most – even if one has to interact with socialist / marxist retards at times.
And these self mgtowers do not have email nor do they sahre their thoughts and skills with the so-called civilized world.
But even Roosh asserted that one really cannot ‘leave the farm’. It sucks I know – best to arrange one’s life in a way to surtound oneself with people and activities that keeps one’s sanity.
Brilliant.
Thanks. I try.
My wife has managed to pull off working from home telecommuting and pulling in almost 60ooo. But I am confined to workplace. She was executuve secretary years back and has great techie skills. She was always kitchen cook before and I was always the working stiff and home gardener and chicken farmer. But I am happy for my bank account she has pulled this off. And I still seem to get a nice evening meal (though on her busy days, it is not 100 percent as it was when she was unemployed). Fortunatley, I can also cook some. On my vacation days when I have extra eggs from our coop, I cook man-style. Make efficiently 6 quiches at once with extra eggs and veggies from my coop/garden and freeze them. So if I get home, no meal ready, just throw one of those babies in the oven, walk my jack -rat terrier, and have my own meal ready to take out of the oven an hour later. I have about 15 of those in my freezer now. When invited to a party, always carry quiche. Yes, and that even feeds her sometimes.
I wish I could say I was the techie, but I rely on her for that.
I am still making more than she is, but barely. But at least I have a nice meal waiting for me when I get home. She generally manages to work in a trip to the oven and stove during the work day but if not, it’s quiche.!!!
Actually, it is very pleasant that our skill sets are complimentary in a way. But she sometimes enjoys making a little joke about me when I ask her to fix my computer.
That being said, I am happily awaiting our silver wedding anniversary.If she ever passes away before I do, I will be in a state of despair. She is the love of my life. I think if that happened, I would just sell everything, become a cheap motel drifter with my small public pension, and chase UFO’s out west on Route 66.
Is her name Melanie?
no, and if it were, I try to stay anonymous. I work in a PC job, and some of my posts are not PC.
Although I imagine most SJW’s wouuld like the above post.
The money you make is all in your head. it’s an expression of value. You can make whatever you want. Most people are pussies. That’s why most are poor.
So I assume you’re a billionaire, right?
I feel empowered, being able to will my house and motorcycle into existence with things that are only in my head.
The thing about online universities is that few take them seriously. When brick and mortar schools offer them in parallel to their on campus degrees, they omit from the diploma that the degrees were earned online.
As for telecommuting, from what I have observed only key superstar employees are allowed to do that. everyone else has to come to the office, though I am seeing a trend where some employers, who pay below average wages, are becoming more liberal with that policy. I believe that the reason for this is that employers believe that their workers don’t put in a full day when at home.
Also, it only works for immaterial subjects like maths but how about organic chemistry or materials engineering? You need labs.
I’ve always found books like the Laptop Millionaire and the 4-Hour Workweek to be extraordinarily vague when it comes to what exactly the dude is selling. They’ll talk about outsourcing labor and time-saving techniques, without going into any detail on the products. I realize you can’t give away all your secrets, but in my own experience it takes a lot more time and skill than these gurus like to suggest to build a business.
But they sold you the book.
Nice try but they were library books.
In that case you still payed through taxes which were spent by your local library to purchase those books.
That’s irrelevant to the point you made about them selling me the book.
I bought it. Wish I had not. What a waste. The world is full of scammers.
I agree. Tim Ferriss works a lot more than 4 hours per week. Some of the companies he touted 5 years ago as advisor have gone belly up. Drop shipping is a hack career, and very unstable. But I do appreciate his thoughts on some things, even though he annoys the shit out of me.
Guy: Every morning, I wake up with wood.
Girl: Well, yeah. That’s why you’re poplar.
Hopefully she’s all bark and no bite.
For those of us this applies to, do you think governments will come together and try to stop this? Will they find away to make nomads earning first world income pay more while living abroad? Youd think they would let us be, as long as we paid tax in our original country right?
Eventually we’ll be paying taxes to a continental or world government.
EU tried not looking so bright for that “mega” government though these days…
Why are you called Niagara?
think geography
North or South?
Maybe Ill run into you sometime.
If Anglo govt’s start taxing their expats then most will have to come home. Outside of corporate expats making huge money, the teachers, DN’s etc will not be able to live overseas if they are all of a sudden on the hook for D’Kwantaqwell’s children.
Doesn’t the evil IRS already do that? I’m glad I’m not from the US…
IRS is only nation in the world, other than the African dictatorship of Eritrea, that taxes its citizens worldwide income.
The author’s conclusion is depressingly correct.. digital nomadism is a long way off for most people, if it’ll arrive at all.
I remember the fad with telecommuting about 10 years ago. Everyone suddenly thought it was stupid that white-collar hi-tech companies still relied on asses-in-seats for productivity.. it’s 2007 for Christ sake! With all the new whizz-bang internet technologies, wouldn’t it make better sense to have employees work from home most of the time? That way the company saves money on running costs, and employees worked harder since they weren’t frazzled by commuting every day and Mondayitis; meanwhile, employees were happier since they could make their own hours, save money and time per day not commuting, not have to get dressed up, etc. Hell, those hours in saved commuting time might even be put into extra work, right? It was a win-win.
Unfortunately things didn’t work out that way. Without the boss waving a big stick, employees got slovenly. Work productivity dropped off precipitously as workers spent their time online “goldbricking”, watching youtube and writing blog comments. Employers came to the realization that workers are lazy slobs at heart, and telecommuting went the way of the typewriter and 3-martini lunches.
It boils down to this. Most people don’t have the discipline to force themselves to work (especially work they hate) without a manager whipping them on. That’s why many small businesses, including digital nomad businesses, fail faster than tulip speculation.
Totally agree. As a small business owner, and a son of a small business owner, to have “work” has always been a blessing. But Most of my friends have the opposite perspective. They cheat and slack off every chance they can.
The sex tourism of women, and all their general escapades in college, city,etc. is paid for, in some form or another, by the tax base.
When, not if, the economy crashes, and Lucy is forced to pick food out of garbage cans, you are going to see a very different dynamic.
Because it is one thing for her to be a whore by choice, it is quite another thing to have a high notch count because that was the only way to eat.
OT: Hillary collapses with “heat exhaustion” during 9/11 remembrance, has to go home early. Now she has pneumonia.
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/09/11/politics/hillary-clinton-health
Of course, the libtard media is now crying that the “basket of deplorable Trumpists” will be jumping all over this latest episode of Hillary’s failing health. Let’s not disappoint 😉
Also OT- high school dindus taking a knee during anthem now. Fawk football.
If you want to see something that is interesting, read “The Sovereign Individual” by James Dale Davidson. He makes several predictions that came true – including crypto-currencies. It is interesting as it is a work that is accessible to the layman but has insights that can give you a better idea of what is happening with our society.
My neighbor has been working remotely from home for 15 years and the company uses it as an excuse for some incredibly longs hours.
It’s been anything but liberating.
As for digital nomads I’m sure there a few here would like to hear from them.
Especially about what type of business you run..
My dream life would be rents on auto pilot and living abroad if I was single. It can be done digitally these days. Tenants can pay rent by e-mail transfer..
I know a lot of people who thought that rent could work on autopilot. Guess what the reality is?
Divorce and debt I know I’ve bought their places from them for good deals.. They key is knowing what repairs/renos to do and when and how to manage tenanats..
Are you a LL?
They probably were avid Kiyosaki readers?
Do you think Robert Kiyosaki was completely wrong or just partially?
I think he was right but underestimates how difficult it is to apply the knowledge so he mostly tells truisms.
I agree.
They get divorced and sell to me.
Completely agree with this post. I’ve lived the digital nomad lifestyle for almost a year now. While I’ve made enough money to live, it honestly kind of sucks. I’ve found it extremely isolating. I miss working on a team, despite the bullshit that comes with it, and it’s damn near impossible to stay focused when you don’t have an office to go to or people relying on you. I’m glad I had the chance to try this lifestyle out while still young and unattached, but I’m already in the process of going back to working at a company. I could continue on what I’m doing now as a DN, but I just don’t feel I’m growing as much as I do when people hold me accountable and I can learn stuff from those with more experience. Not a knock on entrepreneurship btw, I consider that something separate from what most digital nomads do.
I went the opposite direction. I was a small biz owner for 10 years in the US. Since dating and social life is so fucked up in Socal, I decided it’s worth being a nomad. (At least long enough to learn spanish, see all the cultures I wanted to see, and find a young latina.)
I agree about being a part of a team and growing. Have you read “Drive?” We are motivated by teamwork and purpose moreso than money.
I agree, but I didn’t work in an office before this that was very dynamic or exciting or conducive to productivity. But it is extremely difficult to motivate one’s self. However, it can be done, with enough self discipline.
Travel is overrated, there are plenty of sweet spots in the US. & F airport travel on a day off.
Please elaborate. You have intrigued me.
Just visited a national park, ran into single, quality women within park who were doing positive things like hiking and enjoying outdoors. They were in shape too. Then I hit Vegas, where I ran into beautiful college womenz from Kansas City at the blackjack table. Ate cheap Thai food at restaurants here and there, had free beers while gambling, and stayed at Nellis. Cheap as fawk. Im married so I wasnt trying to pirate ass. Just saying, gas is cheap right now and there’s plenty in your backyard to be thankful for.
I do see your point. Thanks for answering me.
It’s pretty ironic that Roosh complains about globalism and that the West is being taken over by Islamic men (and I agree with that complaint)… yet at the same time his sites constantly promote “white flight” to exotic countries and just abandoning the Western nations we supposedly don’t want to die a multicultural feminist death.
This x 1000.
Don’t throw the baby away with the bath water.
I’m only conservative in the sense that I’m against high taxation, welfare societies, feminism, white guilt-tripping, affirmative action etc but I’m actually low on nationalism, even pro-globalism. Sadly the globalism we know enforces all those negative things but it need not be that way.
You’re not the only one, brother. Hell, I even considered myself a liberal, pre-2000. Nationalism does scare me, not only for the problems it could create going forward, but because I see nationalism as the #1 cause for the end of western civilization and patriarchy, beginning with The Great War.
this site has at least 3 more stupid doublethinks.
migrants want to take over the white race let’s fly to asia to marry yellow chicks
let’s talk about Christian ethics and morality, being religious is important the founder and half of the readers are pick-up artists
tutorials on how to spy on your cheating wife tutorials on how to seduce women who are with a beta provider
Hillary’s incompetent let’s ignore all of Trump’s retardation
etc.
“this site has at least 3 more stupid doublethinks.”
Open borders dooming your nation/race/civilization a few thousand men maximizing their mate prospects.
Salvation of the individual soul and the social benefit of the religion that the civilization was founded upon “game” needed to find a good mate and keep her.
Hillary’s incompetence, treason, and criminality Trump’s genius and backing from Putin/Russia.
entitled to a Beta male provider who will completely overlook her rapidly declining
looks and sky-high notch count when she wants to “settle down”.
Oh so true, seen this on most dating sites with women over 30 with saying if you
come here for sex move along or my kids come first and I’m looking someone to
spend time with.
They are just looking for a beta male provider with a huge wallet.
I built my wealth with being responsible and would rather being single vs dating
someone who would of never looked twice at me when I was younger.
Re: Government and taxation. While everyone thinks of the income tax, which is of course a huge part of it, one of the biggest savings is all the hidden taxes and fees, and simply cost of living, of not being in an expensive US city.
For example, water bills in my city average $80 a month and up. That’s nothing but a utility tax of $1,000 a year. You can buy cheap clean water in most other places of the world, if they even bill separately for it, and there’s no reason it should cost that much in a developed nation like the USA.
The cost of housing / office space is extremely high, and property taxes alone in the USA are about the equivalent of what your total housing cost will be in many places abroad.
Add in all the energy bills, utilities, property taxes, garbage collection fees, association dues, etc. and you are talking about serious cash. It’s not always obvious because it’s not as simple a calculation as “Country A has 38% income tax and Country B has 17%.”