[i_am_proteus]

I have a simpler method to accomplish the same task: a typewriter.

The key, for me, is to retype into a computer and edit during that phase.

[ken]

A go (囲碁, not ~lang) master once taught me how to get my subconscious to reveal moves it knew were bad. We played a quick game, cleared the board, and then played the same game over again. The moves I remembered immediately were the right ones. The moves where I hesitated were the wrong ones. He was easily 20 stones better than me but my subconscious knew, at least, every time I made a mistake against him, even in complex situations.

Repetition is under-appreciated today. I think it's something we lost when we gave up typewriters. I'm not saying we should go back to ink and paper in all cases but I do think there is an aspect we're missing out on, like someone whose fitness deteriorates when they start driving everywhere, or who doesn't know where anything is now that they have a GPS-enabled smartphone.

[_trampeltier]

Yesterday I watched "All the President's Men". Even I knew of course, there was an time without computer in the offices, but still, it felt a bit .. really like from a different time. I also did think about, how it would not be so easy like today, to change words or just wrong chars like today.

[disintegore]

How in hell is that "simpler"

[gk1]

Probably meant technologically simpler, since no software is involved.

Acquiring and operating a typewriter is definitely not, in my view, a simple alternative.

Just writing with pen and paper seems simpler on all counts.

[djsumdog]

I think they might have been referring to needing to type the whole thing again. Back in the typewriter days, I remember drafting papers on pen and pencil until I was read, and then typing it out; occasionally switching to white out ribbons to fix mistakes. Word processors changed a lot of that, and big high school we could all type our papers in Word97 or Corel WordPerfect and print them out; no intermediate steps.

I suppose with a typewriter today, you could still just OCR the result using an old scanner you can pick up at a garage sale or thrift store for nothing, if you didn't want to re-type everything by hand.

R.R. Martin has said he still uses and old word processor with Word Star on it, to have fewer distractions. He transfers things over via floppy disk.

[i_am_proteus]

Typewriter operation is on the same order of simplicity as typing on a computer and operating a printer.

Typewriter acquisition is about an hour of time and $50.

Admittedly, I've owned a typewriter for longer than I've owned a conputer. I put it down in favor of WP5.1, but picked it back up a few years ago.

The advantage over pen and paper, for me, is speed and legibility.