
Welcome to the real world of digital nomadism - mskvsk
https://hackernoon.com/want-to-be-a-digital-nomad-read-this-first-14907d66963e#.1oq6n29l9
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65827
I think that I'd be way more interested in reading about this phenomena if
there was literally any term used to describe it other than "digital nomad".

There's also just the creeps who really enjoy being served by other humans,
but can't really afford to own a full time servant class anywhere but SE Asia
so that's where they live. Something really rubs me the wrong way about the
white people who do this, lots of really creepy stuff going on.

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yummyfajitas
I quite enjoy having servants when I'm in India. There are many jobs where I
don't have a comparative advantage so I pay people to do them. Your language
"own a full time servant" is nonsensical, it's "pay a person for their labor
at a mutually agreed upon wage". If an employee finds something better (which
they often do in a fast growing economy) there's nothing I can do to keep them
besides offer them more money.

By contrast, in the US, I'm forced to pay people not to work.

Why is preferring the former "creepy"?

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someguydave
[http://thefutureprimaeval.net/servants-without-
masters/](http://thefutureprimaeval.net/servants-without-masters/)

White Americans have a very odd bias against personal service. Honestly I
think it is a major obstacle to economic growth - image how much more
productive the average upper middle class family could be if they could employ
servants to get things done at home.

Instead USG pays a big portion of "poor" people not to work, and also insists
that they cannot work for low (market clearing) wages.

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eli_gottlieb
I wouldn't describe human dignity and equality as "a very odd bias".

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someguydave
So you are putting forth the idea that all forms of personal service require
sacrificing dignity? What does equality even mean with respect to one's work
role?

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eli_gottlieb
>So you are putting forth the idea that all forms of personal service require
sacrificing dignity?

Well yes. Following orders is always a sacrifice of dignity, even when we make
it a small, subtle one.

> What does equality even mean with respect to one's work role?

That you can give input and have as much voice in the group's direction as
anyone else.

~~~
mercer
> > So you are putting forth the idea that all forms of personal service
> require sacrificing dignity? > Well yes. Following orders is always a
> sacrifice of dignity, even when we make it a small, subtle one.

Maybe the problem is that both 'following orders' and 'dignity' (and perhaps
even 'sacrifice') are ill-defined, but I can name countless examples from my
life, as well as from a cursory look at the life of friends of mine, where
'following orders' provided joy and satifsaction _and_ where it didn't affect
my (sense of) dignity. _Especially_ in small, subtle cases.

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beachstartup
it seems like a lot of these problems can avoided by simply staying in one
spot longer, i.e. 6 months to a year. i'd say anything less than 3 months and
you're basically just a tourist.

i've lived in my current spot for 6 years and i still find new things less
than 1 km from my house routinely.

~~~
Canada
I agree. In most places it's difficult to rent places at reasonable prices for
less than a year. Sure, you can rent crappy places, but nothing good. You get
a lot more mileage committing a year at a time than jumping around every
month. Knowing you have 12 months ahead encourages behaving like you actually
live there and also allows real friendships to develop.

It amazes me how some people jump around, going to 5 cities on their 2 week
holiday. They go everywhere and they they experience nowhere.

The big challenge is immigration. 60 to 90 day visit limits are common, and
how many times you can do quick ins and outs varies.

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camillomiller
I'm currently in Siem Reap, ready for the last leg of my trip. It was more of
a vacation to escape Berlin's cruellest months (january and february), but so
far work has been hard. Very sporadic and much less consistent than I
expected. Mine's a short trip, tho, with lots of travelling in between places,
so I won't describe it as a real digital nomad experience.

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Numberwang
I'm in Bali now and can see where you are coming from.

This is def an age thing though. The older you get the more you want to settle
(in general).

~~~
mskvsk
True.

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marz0
A lot of the issues you describe seem to come from remotely working in
countries throughout SE Asia. What if one were to travel the US as a US
citizen? Issues like unreliable internet connection, workplace issues, food
poisoning, visas/paperwork, and language barrier would be greatly minimized.
Traveling Europe with an EU citizenship would be a similar experience, though
you may run into some language barriers. You also have a general idea of what
the weather will be like in any of these places.

Overspending on the other hand is definitely something that would be an issue
while remotely working anywhere, but if you stay disciplined enough I think
you'd be able to manage.

~~~
mskvsk
True, when travelling domestically or within more or less same culture, most
points described in the article don't apply.

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benguild
Yeah, this is part of the reason we built
[https://cafewifi.com](https://cafewifi.com)

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DrScump
I wonder how many people nowadays know of Steven K. Roberts, the original
"High Tech Nomad" starting in 1983:

[https://microship.com/high-tech-nomad-popular-
computing/](https://microship.com/high-tech-nomad-popular-computing/)

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lukasm
How do you find the accommodation? It must be quite frustrating to pay for
WIFI that's almost nonexistent.

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herbst
Honestly i dont mind that factor at all. Sometimes wifi is shitty, sometimes
not. Usually it works because otherwise people would complain. At home i had a
gigibit sync internet connection and honestly i rarely really miss it. If
everything else fails 4G is widely available and cheap

