George Aguiar

The blog

Pragmatic

What works, in practice, today. How-tos and field notes.

  1. A candid 16:9 photo of an older man with glasses and a gray beard, wearing a gray, specked wool sweater, smiling as he types on a laptop at a rustic wooden outdoor table on a porch. The laptop has open-source tech stickers, and next to it is a steaming bowl of oatmeal with blueberries and a small Meshtastic radio node with an antenna. Behind him are rolling Appalachian mountains covered in vibrant autumn foliage under a clear sky, with a faint, subtle holographic network grid connecting the peaks.

    From Company Scrip to Digital Chains: Finding Our Collective Exit Strategy

    Pragmatic

    On October 28, 1913, Gandhi led coal miners in a march against bound labor. Today, young workers face a new digital company town. As fellow travelers, we can use Liberation Technology and global solidarity to find our exit and reclaim our freedom.

  2. An older man with a white beard and glasses sits on a wooden porch in a colorful striped sweater, playing an acoustic guitar while looking out over autumn-colored mountain hills, with a bowl of soup and a laptop displaying a terrain map on a small table beside him.

    On Teddy Roosevelt’s Birthday: Are We Deleting Our Wild Firewalls?

    PersonalPragmatic

    Today is Teddy Roosevelt’s 168th birthday. As a retired software engineer and Liberation Technologist, I see a direct parallel between dismantling digital guardrails and stripping protections from 86 million acres of public land. Here is how we protect our sanctuaries.

  3. An older man with a white beard and glasses switches on a warm porch light overlooking autumn hills and glowing digital nodes.

    Dear God, Will You Turn Out the Lights When We’re Gone!

    Pragmatic

    Everyone seems to have a loud, emotional "truth" about complex technologies they barely understand. From AI energy panic to prophecies of complete doom, we are losing sight of science, common sense, and democracy. Let’s look at why trust is humanity’s Achilles’ heel—and how we can start healing it together.

  4. I am sitting at a wooden desk on a glass-enclosed porch overlooking rolling mountain hills in peak late-October autumn. Outside the window, crisp golden afternoon sunlight illuminates vibrant autumn foliage with sugar maples and oaks in rich crimson, burnt orange, and gold mixed with green pines. On the desk in front of me sit an open laptop displaying a decentralized mesh network map, a small solar-powered LoRa radio node, a steaming bowl of homemade lentil soup, and an acoustic guitar resting against a piano in the background, symbolizing the harmony of disciplined participation and liberation technology.

    Why Real Liberation Requires Participation, Discipline, and Better Digital Tools

    PoliticalPragmatic

    Last weekend’s split screen between peaceful American voting rallies and burning French buildings taught an old engineer a timeless lesson. Gene Sharp proved that real power comes from organized participation, not violent outbursts or online complaining. Here is how we turn frustration into durable levers for freedom.

  5. A candid, natural photograph of an older man in his late 60s with short gray hair, glasses, and a full gray beard, working in his backyard garden on a crisp autumn morning. He is wearing a dark blue crewneck sweater and is actively pulling back a large, translucent white frost blanket over a raised garden bed with his left hand, while holding a tablet in his right hand that displays green stock market charts and open-source code. The garden is filled with raised wooden beds and fabric grow bags containing various leafy green plants. In the background, the warm, brightly lit interior of his house is visible through a kitchen window, where a television is showing a football game and a large pot is simmering on the stove. The surrounding landscape features rolling hills with deciduous trees in peak autumn foliage of fiery orange, red, and yellow, alongside deep green pine trees under a golden-orange morning sky with rising mist.

    From Black Monday to Bread and Circuses: Escaping the Machine

    Pragmatic

    Thirty-nine years after the 1987 market crash, the automated machines making the numbers are still part of the problem. While algorithms feed us distractions and crumbs, we can choose to unplug from the spectacle, see the truth, and reclaim our freedom.

  6. An action photograph captures a keen and active man in his late 60s hiking on a leaf-strewn forest trail, pausing to dodge a rusted nail just in time. The crisp West Virginia autumn foliage is bathed in late afternoon sunlight, framing a moments-long escape from a hike-ending step.

    The Next Step on the Trail: Avoiding Life's Unexpected Glitches

    Pragmatic

    A perfect ten-mile autumn hike ended with a literal puncture on my porch. Looking back at almost 20,000 steps, it was the final one that tried to break the journey. Here is what an unexpected rusty nail taught me about the vital importance of building personal and digital resilience.

  7. George hiking with a cucumber

    Why We Throw the Cucumber: Algorithms, Envy, and Finding Tech Freedom

    Pragmatic

    The famous video of a monkey throwing a cucumber isn't about justice; it's about the frustration of seeing a better deal. Today's social media algorithms run on this exact reflex. Let's explore how we can stop throwing cucumbers and build technology that actually serves us.

  8. Hello World?

    hello world

    PersonalPoliticalPragmaticProfessional

    A first post says hello because the form requires it, and goodbye because the evidence does. The tipping points have already tipped, leadership is flailing, and it is the same keystroke in different weather.