We’re gonna need architectures for forgetting

Nerds: You know more about technology than anybody else, and anybody who knows less than you is a total ****. I love you for that. But normal people deserve wonderful technology too. And half the **** you call computing—running custom ROMs, reinstalling OSes, ****ing with network settings—is like a chef sharpening his knives over and over and calling that cooking. Real computing is the actual stuff you do—cutting videos, editing photos, writing. Or at least it should be. Not the **** people do to make all of that work.

The funeral was in Brookline, Mass., at the Levine Chapel. I knew that my brother had friends, but he worked unendingly, and I was worried that nobody would be there for the funeral. There was my mother, my step-father, and my two step-brothers and step-sister. And, literally, hundreds of people. It was absolutely filled. People were standing in the back. I had the picture of my brother as isolated. Julia asked me, “How did they all find out?” And I said, “They communicate with each other using computers.