commit 059bd356efd0e3090ea3206a44ed2416016a065b
parent ca81009541443fcdfb793f81122cf877c8f0c73b
Author: Andrew Laack <andrew@laack.co>
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2025 00:30:17 -0500
You don't need anything
Diffstat:
5 files changed, 92 insertions(+), 24 deletions(-)
diff --git a/posts/entries/you-dont-need-anything.md b/posts/entries/you-dont-need-anything.md
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# You Don't Need Anything
+
+## Date: 2025/10/17
+
+## Context
+
+The words we say have an impact on how we think. A word I find problematic is the word need.
+
+## Definition
+
+Need: a requirement, necessary duty, or obligation.
+
+## My Thoughts
+
+> Do You Really *need* Anything?
+
+I often say this when people use an unqualified need. An unqualified need is as follows:
+
+> I *need* to eat food, I'm starving!
+
+Aside from the fact that they likely aren't starving, they don't *need* food. This can be thought of in a similar way as the is-ought problem [2]. If someone says they *need* something, you can ask them, "Why do you *need* it?". In the case of food they may say, "I *need* food to survive", and to this you may say, "Why do you *need* to survive", and this can continue indefinitely as needs are predicated upon something. Often need has an implicit qualification as is the case of, "I *need* food" implying that it is needed to survive, but you don't *need* to survive. I don't want you to die, but it is not necessary for you to live. Tying this to the definition of need, there is no requirement, duty, or obligation for someone to be alive. There are no universal requirements to do things, no one has a universal duty to do things, and no one has a universal obligation to do anything. You may *need* to complete a project at work to not get fired, but you don't *need* to complete the project, you can just get fired, you are not obligated to not be fired.
+
+The danger in statements like, "I *need* to eat food", is they create a dependence upon something. By saying you *need* something you are telling yourself that without it you are incomplete. You are beholden unto this thing. This is dangerous because it leads to acts of immorality because of the perception that something must be done. I believe this is what has led to mass surveillance. People think they *need* to do what their boss tells them to do even when they know it's wrong.
+
+YOU DON'T NEED ANYTHING. You want it because you perceive the consequences of not having it are worse than having it. This is not a need. This is a want. Understand the difference.
+
+You don't need to live. You don't need food. You don't need water.
+
+## Citations
+
+[1] - [https://www.dictionary.com/browse/need](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/need.md)
+
+[2] - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is%E2%80%93ought_problem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is%E2%80%93ought_problem.md)
diff --git a/posts/site/feed.xml b/posts/site/feed.xml
@@ -7,9 +7,16 @@
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<managingEditor>andrew@laack.co</managingEditor>
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-<lastBuildDate>Mon, 13 Oct 2025 22:46:21 -0500</lastBuildDate>
+<lastBuildDate>Fri, 17 Oct 2025 00:30:03 -0500</lastBuildDate>
<atom:link href="https://blog.laack.co/feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/>
<item>
+<title><![CDATA[You Don't Need Anything]]></title>
+<link>https://blog.laack.co/you-dont-need-anything.html</link>
+<description><![CDATA[<h2 id="context">Context</h2><p>The words we say have an impact on how we think. A word I find problematic is the word need.</p><h2 id="definition">Definition</h2><p>Need: a requirement, necessary duty, or obligation.</p><h2 id="my-thoughts">My Thoughts</h2><blockquote><p>Do You Really <em>need</em> Anything?</p></blockquote><p>I often say this when people use an unqualified need. An unqualified need is as follows:</p><blockquote><p>I <em>need</em> to eat food, I’m starving!</p></blockquote><p>Aside from the fact that they likely aren’t starving, they don’t <em>need</em> food. This can be thought of in a similar way as the is-ought problem [2]. If someone says they <em>need</em> something, you can ask them, “Why do you <em>need</em> it?”. In the case of food they may say, “I <em>need</em> food to survive”, and to this you may say, “Why do you <em>need</em> to survive”, and this can continue indefinitely as needs are predicated upon something. Often need has an implicit qualification as is the case of, “I <em>need</em> food” implying that it is needed to survive, but you don’t <em>need</em> to survive. I don’t want you to die, but it is not necessary for you to live. Tying this to the definition of need, there is no requirement, duty, or obligation for someone to be alive. There are no universal requirements to do things, no one has a universal duty to do things, and no one has a universal obligation to do anything. You may <em>need</em> to complete a project at work to not get fired, but you don’t <em>need</em> to complete the project, you can just get fired, you are not obligated to not be fired.</p><p>The danger in statements like, “I <em>need</em> to eat food”, is they create a dependence upon something. By saying you <em>need</em> something you are telling yourself that without it you are incomplete. You are beholden unto this thing. This is dangerous because it leads to acts of immorality because of the perception that something must be done. I believe this is what has led to mass surveillance. People think they <em>need</em> to do what their boss tells them to do even when they know it’s wrong.</p><p>YOU DON’T NEED ANYTHING. You want it because you perceive the consequences of not having it are worse than having it. This is not a need. This is a want. Understand the difference.</p><p>You don’t need to live. You don’t need food. You don’t need water.</p><h2 id="citations">Citations</h2><p>[1] - <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/need.md">https://www.dictionary.com/browse/need</a></p><p>[2] - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is%E2%80%93ought_problem.md">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is%E2%80%93ought_problem</a></p>]]></description>
+<pubDate>Fri, 17 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0500</pubDate>
+<guid>https://blog.laack.co/you-dont-need-anything.html</guid>
+</item>
+<item>
<title><![CDATA[Stop Collecting User Data]]></title>
<link>https://blog.laack.co/stop-collecting-user-data.html</link>
<description><![CDATA[<h2 id="problem-statement">Problem Statement</h2><p>Sending the data of people who use applications you built, by default, for any purpose that is not strictly required for the application to function is morally wrong.</p><h2 id="why-does-this-matter">Why Does This Matter</h2><p>This matters because humans are trusting. It abuses this trust by tracking unnecessary data about application usage because most humans implicitly assume this is not being done, and they often don’t understand what the consequences of this tracking can be [1][2]. Additionally, it is unreasonable to expect users to look through your source code, all of your settings, and your docs to understand what data is being collected. If data is being collected, it should be obvious based on the purpose of the application, and if it is not obvious that it must be collected for the application to work, this should be made explicitly clear to users in the most obvious way possible.</p><h2 id="counter-arguments">Counter Arguments</h2><p><strong>But it is necessary to track errors so we can fix bugs and improve UX</strong></p><p>Yes, this is often the case. Does the Linux kernel collect logs? Yes! Do they upload them to a server for aggregation? No! This is how error logging should be done. Write your logs to a log file, but don’t automatically upload them to your servers. If a user has an issue that they would like addressed, they will let you know about it. If they don’t notice or don’t mind the issue, it’s their right to not report it. Some users may not want to deal with the hassle of uploading logs when things break, so they may prefer to have an option to automatically upload their logs. This is totally fine, but only if they are informed about what is being logged and it is an opt-in.</p><p><strong>But it is necessary to track usage to understand what users want</strong></p><p>No, it isn’t. GitHub (bleh) issues exists, Discord (ick) exists, Matrix exists, email exists, there are countless ways software projects crowd source improvements to their applications, but it should not be done using mass surveillance. I would argue it is acceptable to have an opt-in option to collect usage data, but I do wonder about the soundness of the minds of people who choose to opt-in to such surveillance.</p><h2 id="towards-a-solution">Towards a Solution</h2><p>Use applications that respect your privacy. If an application you are using collects your data and is not proprietary, it is quite likely there is a fork of it that strips out the data collection, see ungoogled-chromium [3] and LibreWolf [4] as examples. If one doesn’t exist, consider making one.</p><p>If user-respecting alternatives don’t exist and the application is proprietary, consider using WireShark [5] to see what domains the application is resolving. Once you find the data collection domains, add these domains to your /etc/hosts file or self-hosted DNS server (like a Pi-hole), and have them resolve to 0.0.0.0. This doesn’t always work because the domain that is collecting data is sometimes used for to support the core functionallity of the application, but in an ideal world this should not be necessary as you shouldn’t be using proprietary software to begin with.</p><h2 id="citations">Citations</h2><p>[1] - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Analytica">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Analytica</a></p><p>[2] - <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/">https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/</a></p><p>[4] - <a href="https://github.com/ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium">https://github.com/ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium</a></p><p>[4] - <a href="https://librewolf.net/">https://librewolf.net/</a></p><p>[5] - <a href="https://www.wireshark.org/download.html">https://www.wireshark.org/download.html</a></p>]]></description>
diff --git a/posts/site/index.html b/posts/site/index.html
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
<h1>Andrew's Blog</h1>
<p><a href="feed.xml">RSS Feed</a></p>
<ol>
+<li><a href="you-dont-need-anything.html">you-dont-need-anything</a> - <em>2025/10/17</em></li>
<li><a href="stop-collecting-user-data.html">stop-collecting-user-data</a> - <em>2025/10/12</em></li>
<li><a href="adnauseum-track-me-not-and-privacy-through-obscurity.html">adnauseum-track-me-not-and-privacy-through-obscurity</a> - <em>2025/10/4</em></li>
<li><a href="the-sustainability-of-youtube.html">the-sustainability-of-youtube</a> - <em>2025/9/28</em></li>
diff --git a/posts/site/you-dont-need-anything.html b/posts/site/you-dont-need-anything.html
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
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+<body>
+<h1 id="you-dont-need-anything">You Don’t Need Anything</h1>
+<h2 id="date-20251017">Date: 2025/10/17</h2>
+<h2 id="context">Context</h2>
+<p>The words we say have an impact on how we think. A word I find problematic is the word need.</p>
+<h2 id="definition">Definition</h2>
+<p>Need: a requirement, necessary duty, or obligation.</p>
+<h2 id="my-thoughts">My Thoughts</h2>
+<blockquote>
+<p>Do You Really <em>need</em> Anything?</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>I often say this when people use an unqualified need. An unqualified need is as follows:</p>
+<blockquote>
+<p>I <em>need</em> to eat food, I’m starving!</p>
+</blockquote>
+<p>Aside from the fact that they likely aren’t starving, they don’t <em>need</em> food. This can be thought of in a similar way as the is-ought problem [2]. If someone says they <em>need</em> something, you can ask them, “Why do you <em>need</em> it?”. In the case of food they may say, “I <em>need</em> food to survive”, and to this you may say, “Why do you <em>need</em> to survive”, and this can continue indefinitely as needs are predicated upon something. Often need has an implicit qualification as is the case of, “I <em>need</em> food” implying that it is needed to survive, but you don’t <em>need</em> to survive. I don’t want you to die, but it is not necessary for you to live. Tying this to the definition of need, there is no requirement, duty, or obligation for someone to be alive. There are no universal requirements to do things, no one has a universal duty to do things, and no one has a universal obligation to do anything. You may <em>need</em> to complete a project at work to not get fired, but you don’t <em>need</em> to complete the project, you can just get fired, you are not obligated to not be fired.</p>
+<p>The danger in statements like, “I <em>need</em> to eat food”, is they create a dependence upon something. By saying you <em>need</em> something you are telling yourself that without it you are incomplete. You are beholden unto this thing. This is dangerous because it leads to acts of immorality because of the perception that something must be done. I believe this is what has led to mass surveillance. People think they <em>need</em> to do what their boss tells them to do even when they know it’s wrong.</p>
+<p>YOU DON’T NEED ANYTHING. You want it because you perceive the consequences of not having it are worse than having it. This is not a need. This is a want. Understand the difference.</p>
+<p>You don’t need to live. You don’t need food. You don’t need water.</p>
+<h2 id="citations">Citations</h2>
+<p>[1] - <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/need.md">https://www.dictionary.com/browse/need</a></p>
+<p>[2] - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is%E2%80%93ought_problem.md">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is%E2%80%93ought_problem</a></p>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/posts/wip/on-need.md b/posts/wip/on-need.md
@@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
-# On Need
-
-## The Problem
-
-The words you say have an impact on the way you think. A word I find particularly problematic is the word need.
-
-## Do You Really *NEED* Anything?
-
-This is what I like to say when people use an unqualified need. An unqualified need is as follows:
-
-> I *need* to eat food, I'm starving!
-
-Aside from the fact that they likely aren't actually starving, they don't *need* food. This can be thought of in a similar way as the is-ought problem [1]. If someone says they *need* something you can then ask them, "Why do you *need* that?". In the case of food they may say, "I *need* food so I survive", and to this you may say, "Why do you *need* to survive", and this can continue forever because needs are predicated upon something. Often the usage of the word need has some sort of implicit qualification as is the case of, "I *need* food" implying that it is needed to survive, but you don't *need* to survive. I don't want you to die, but it is not necessary for you to be alive. If you aren't alive there is not something that happens whereby it can't happen like breaking a law of math or physics. Everyone dies and since this doesn't break any fundamental law, there is no *need* to be alive.
-
-The danger in statements like, "I *need* to eat food", is that they create a dependence upon something. By saying you *need* something you are telling yourself that without it you are incomplete. You are beholden unto this thing. This is dangerous because it leads to acts of immorality because of the perception that something must be done. I believe this is what has led to mass surveilance because people think they *need* to do what their boss tells them to do even when they know it's wrong.
-
- YOU DON'T NEED ANYTHING. You want it because you perceive the consequences as being worse than what you are interested in. This is not a need. This is a want. Understand the difference.
-
-You don't need to live. You don't need food. You don't need water.
-
-You need to live to be able to work. You need food to live. You need water to live. You don't need them.
-
-[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is%E2%80%93ought_problem
