how to drop out

An article called How to Drop Out by Ran Prieur was mentioned on an early retirement forum last week and I'm really impressed. I also liked most of his other essays and novel, which are all free to read and available on the site. I've never found anybody writing about topics like society, survival, sustainability, morals, etc. who has such a similar world view to my own. If you totally hate this, you probably already don't like most of what I have to say.

"I think it's good to be dependent on equals, on friends and family with whom you have a healthy relationship, and it's good for them to be dependent on you. The kind of dependence that I'm against, that I would like to wipe off the Earth forever, is where someone has you over a barrel, where you have to do what they say because if you don't, they will withhold something that you need. The essence of "dropping out" is to cut dependencies on a system of power-over, and replace them with dependencies on a system of power-with."

That's all for now. I'll leave you with my new favourite xkcd webcomic. Don't forget to mouse-over.

2009 Called