[dickfickling]

As the other comments have noted, Cory addresses this further down in the linked post. He further expanded on this in the post he wrote when he quit smoking[0]:

> That was my homework: go away and think of an immediate reason not to smoke. When I came back, I had my answer ready: “I spend two laptops per year on smokes. That money goes directly to the dirtiest companies on Earth, the literal inventors of the science-denial playbook that is responsible for our inaction on climate change. Those companies’ sole mission is to murder me and all my friends. I’m going to quit smoking and I’m going to buy a laptop this year and every year hereafter, and I’ll still be up one laptop per year.”

[0]: https://doctorow.medium.com/i-quit-9ae7b6010c99

[afterburner]

Or he could just save the money. But I guess he has to constantly reward himself for quitting? Man addiction sure is a pain.

[rozab]

Well, maybe he's happier this way? There's a classic joke about a lifelong smoker talking to a stop-smoking councillor:

"With all the money you've spent on cigarettes in your lifetime, you could have bought a Ferrari."

"Do you smoke?"

"No."

"Then where's your Ferrari?"

It's a good question. Most of us have the financial capability to be extremely extravagant with a few select areas of our life, but instead we average everything down to boring mediocrity.

[avgDev]

Sounds like giving up one addiction for another. But I guess buying laptops yearly is better for your health than smoking.

[aseipp]

The labor and physical footprint needed to produce modern electronics is completely insane. You're comparing little league basketball to major league baseball, and it's not like a player like Framework is going to change this at all.

There is a severe ecological impact to the wider environment that comes from electronics, let's not kid ourselves. That doesn't mean buying electronics makes you like, a terrible person, but if you're sitting around prostheyzing on blogs like Doctorow about how these companies are killing you, it's a bit funny to essentially go from a thing that kills people you know in the first world to one that only kills people in the third world you never cared for. Modern comforts like cutting edge electronics have extreme externalities. Like, okay, let me just throw the "murders people I care about" problem over the fence, where it will surely not be an issue for all those people halfway across the planet from me (that I coincidentally do not care or think about.)

In general I'm not trying to be too hard. It's not like anyone else deals with this level of cognitive dissonance much better, and I say that as someone who mostly quit cold turkey over a year ago...

[DharmaPolice]

>it's a bit funny to essentially go from a thing that kills people you know in the first world to one that only kills people in the third world you never cared for

I feel like you're not really representing his argument on why he quit fairly. He does talk about the effects of tobacco on the developing world for one and also his overall reason seems to be more relating to the wider idea of tobacco companies being pioneers in the misinformation industry.

[0des]

While acutely better for the individual, surely the e-waste and resource sequestration outweigh that over time

[ip26]

From the smokers in my life, it's apparent to me people generally need a fairly concrete reason or goal to successfully quit.

Otherwise it's always Sure, I'll quit - tomorrow

Willpower is a muscle. It fatigues. So simply willing your way out of an addiction is not effective for many people.

[felistoria]

My mom smoked for about 45 years and stopped the day she found out she was having a grand daughter. She didn't want to smell like smoke around her. Hasn't touched a cig in years. The whole family is better for it.

[0des]

People justify buying things they don't technically need in many different ways.

[mdoms]

Can't take your money to the grave man. Cory is well set up and isn't hurting for cash.

[aspaceman]

> Or he could just save the money.

What a stupid comment. He saved the money and spent it on what he wanted. The hell?

He should save the money and you should call your grandmother.

[comeonseriously]

Kudos to him for quitting. I quit, oh, about a dozen years ago. When I decided to quit, every time I smoked, I told my self they taste like shit; every drag off the cigarette, I told myself that. Eventually (about 2 or 3 months as I recall) it worked and I could no longer stand the taste and haven't touched one since.

[exolymph]

I don't care enough but I want someone to fact-check him on the environmental impact of a MacBook worth of cigarettes versus the MacBook itself. It'd be funny if the MacBook is ultimately worse for Nature.

[sudosysgen]

If he's giving his old one to someone else that presumably needs it, I don't see why it would be a negative.

The cigarettes are probably better for Nature since you'll live a shorter life.