It is honestly insane the age we live in. I grew up with this stuff, but +looking at history we are in a sci-fi era. Instanteaous, light speed +communication as a price the modern consumer can afford, tiny network endpoints +to all of human knoweldge in our pockets at a very affordable price, with more +computing power than what was available for 99% of human history, autonomous +programs that can do everything from monitor crops and oil rigs, all the way to + +autonomous ship ports moving millions of dollars of goods. We are in the +future, and we just take it for granted.
+ +With that said, alot of services and goods that used to be physical are now +completely online. Very few people own paper maps, own CD's of their music, buy +copies of their movies, or keep physical filing cabinets of documents. Now +everything is streamed or cloud hosted. And this is wonderful for convience +sake. Now your tiny computer in your pocket that was once only your +communication machine is now your communication, entertainment, business, +and navigation.
+ +Now centeralization isn't always a bad thing. A centeralized point of +control for a small group is good, it allows ease of communication and +orgainization, by having only one point to go through. That strength is also +centeralization's weakness, it has one point of failure. If google maps goes +down for a week starting tommorow, alot of people, escpecailly the younger +ones, would probably be unable, or at least not very confident, in their +ability to navigate. Now of course people would be able to navigate still, and +plenty of people 25 and younger will be able to figure out how to get around, +be it google map alternatives, paper maps, dedicated gps, or map quest. +However, think how much easier it would be if even the few of us that are +technically inclined, hosted our own maps. You could update the maps when you +wanted to. You could download only sections of maps that you would use. You +could modify and update the maps as you see fit. They could be as accurate or +inaccurate as you wish, depending on the area they are for. The freedoms +afforded to the user is endless.
+ +I can see some would say "Well maps stay pretty consistent, why would I need +my own? I just need to get from point A to point B, why would I care? And I can +agree, hosting your own maps is quite a niche thing to do, possibly only for +the ultra paranoid (not as paranoid as +seting up your own NTP server :)). +Therefore, I would like to offer up a more relatable +alternative. Hosting media such as movies, TV shows, Music, and even home +photos and and videos. Take something like plex, its easy to setup on spare +hardware, supported on just about every platform you can dream of, easy to +scale with new drives, supports about every OS and file format available, and +easy to manage users. If you host your own movies (that you legally or not so +legally obtain), you never have to worry about netfilx removing your favorite +series, or the general whims of huge corporations and their disputes. Same goes +for music, music can be removed from tidal or spotify at a moments notice, due +to the relationships of large record label companies and spotify.
+ +Well, if we can afford ourselves more freedom and control over our own +content, what else can be self hosted? +Alot! +Thats kinda the point of this site! I self host my own git server, so that +github (and microsoft) can't remove my work if they feel like it, so that I can +host my own code. I host my own matrix server, so that my own communications +aren't at the whims of discord. Self hosting is so rewarding and freeing, if +you're the technical one of your friends or family, you may as well.
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