The Subduer’s Summary#

We have reached the final page of THE SUBDUER’S MANUAL. Let’s review how we got here.

In the first section, “THE CERTAIN PROBLEM”, we learnt that our world of technology is a pervasive and largely invisible system whose invisibility facilitates and encourages dishonesty, is riddled with addictive data farms, has no regard for your well-being (though it pretends to) and coerces you to devalue yourself in service to corporations’ objectives.

In this second section, “THE POTENTIAL SOLUTION”, we considered how to orient and equip ourselves to use technology on our own terms. There have been three steps thus far:

  • Recalibrate - Fix your starting point.
  • Begin - Make practical changes, at whatever your level of ability.
  • Assess - Develop your own filters for considering the tech you should use.

And now we conclude at our final step. SUBDUE.

Though throughout this manual I have gladly taken opportunities to tease you, I am ultimately trying to encourage you into action. Let me try once more as we close.

SUBDUE. The supreme verb. This website’s mantra. What does it mean to SUBDUE? To SUBDUE is to remember who you are, that you are in charge of your space and to establish personal non-negotiables accordingly. It is to control your space and to protect your precious mind. It is to identify what should belong to you and to resolve to take hold of it. It is to tread confidently in a world of endless options and to know what never can—and what never should—be yours. It is to remember that you were once taught as a child that peer pressure is to be resisted. It is to defend that which needs to be guarded and to attack whatever (or whoever) dares to overstep. It is to refuse to retreat and to never accept defeat. (I’ll stop, but I could do this all day.)

If you truly understand the call to SUBDUE then you will already know that it applies to all aspects of life, but this website focuses on technology, the defining human development of our shared time in history.

SUBDUE YOUR TECH.

And that is about all I have to say.

Final words#

As I sign off, I give my sincere thanks to anyone who reached this point and stuck with me. To the eye-rolling hate-readers, I am now in your head and you can’t get rid of me.

To all fellow subduers, from beginners through to the experts, I am honoured to have been a part of your journey. Keep going. Take the tech in your life and SUBDUE it. Make it your servant. Make it yield. Make it yours. Free your time. Free your mind. You can do it. You deserve it.


SUBDUE.