Joshua Blais: Back Pain in Tech, Guix, Emacs, 34-Keys, Going Offline

Joshua Blais is back on the podcast, and this episode goes all over the place: Guix, Nix breaking, distro hopping, Emacs, Neovim, 34-key keyboards, home row mods, back pain, ADHD, Adderall, phone addiction, online presence, AI, spirituality, gratitude, community, and making money on YouTube.

We start with Linux and editor talk, including why Nix broke, what Guix is, why Joshua uses Emacs, whether he might go back to Neovim, and the difference between Doom Emacs and vanilla Emacs. Then we get into the ergonomic side of tech: back problems, chairs, keyboard placement, Colemak, concavity, 34 keys, where Shift goes on a tiny keyboard, ZMK, QMK, switches, and how keyboard choices affect your body.

The second half gets more personal. We talk about substance abuse, Adderall, the ADHD trend, putting your phone away, whether kids should have phones or tablets, trying to build an online presence while also wanting to go offline, monetizing YouTube, having a community, IRC, networking, AI, spirituality, gratitude, and whether the Luke Smith path is the right path.

Video:

https://youtu.be/9ziLQK_kmKY

What's the best way to support me?

https://linkarzu.com/about/#youre-a-fraud-why-do-you-ask-for-money-isnt-youtube-ads-enough

Timeline:

00:00:00 Intro

00:00:00 Highlights

00:03:17 Nix: the unbreakable OS broke

00:05:15 What is GUIX?

00:06:06 Topics and who is who in the thumbnail

00:07:23 The podcast has its own youtube channel now

00:08:24 Distro hopping and GUIX

00:18:10 Plans on going from Emacs to Neovim (again)?

00:21:15 Doom emacs vs vanilla emacs

00:26:03 Back problems in the tech community

00:35:50 Yoga balls? Herman Miller chairs are garbage

00:37:50 How do you sleep, you like to be hugged or be the hugger?

00:40:40 Back problems aggravated by your keyboard, colemak?

00:47:24 Where can people find your book?

00:49:50 34 keys, homerow mods, where you put shift?

00:52:34 Hot take about keyboard concavity, keyboard placement

01:00:50 zmk, qmk, gui tool for configuring or in text editor like a chad?

01:03:18 What type of switches, soft, hard, noisy, silent

01:05:20 Difference between linear and tactile switches

01:06:45 Resources for learning emacs as a beginner?

01:10:51 Substance abuse and adderal consumption, the ADHD fashion

01:18:05 Can you put your phone away for a couple of days?

01:19:47 Will you give phone or tablet to your kids?

01:22:00 Tough to try to have an online prescence but trying to go offline?

01:34:05 How to monetize this youtube thing

01:37:09 Having a community? IRC?

01:40:39 My networking journey

01:42:48 How do you feel about AI nowadays?

01:45:35 Thoughts on spirituality?

01:52:35 Being grateful

01:57:58 Is the Luke Smith path the right path?