Any time I find myself back in Puerto Rico my brain inevitably wanders back to low powered computing. I think it’s partially because all of the machines in the office(s) I visit here have Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPSs) and partially because of how the sunny weather always makes me want to get a laptop with a matte screen.

When I used to live here, I found myself drawing up plans for a lower power PC. Something with industrial grade keyboard/rollerball mouse combo (the weather here is very humid and the salt air is very cruel to electronics) and an e-ink screen (for the readability and power savings).

The more I think about the intersection of computing, climate change, and community resiliency, the more I think about what a network of standalone ‘monoliths’ could look like. 3-4 meter tall towers with the computers mounted at human level, with solar just above.

Monolith Terminals

Something with the following specs, basically:

• e-ink screen
• rpi zero (W maybe, but not a deal breaker)
• waterproof case for rpi with grommets for externals
• aforementioned industrial keyboard/rollerball
• USB SDR (with hookups for antenna tower with solar panel for power)
• Wifi antenna for local connectivity from external devices (making it possible to connect from a distance, upload data to other nodes)

A network of these throughout PR could mesh together and be useable during the day (solar power) and could possibly have external (covered by default) mount points for 12V batteries to act as UPSs in case the odd cloud came by. Since so many lead acid batteries are readily available (and harder to reach nodes might require taking a jeep/4trac/quad to the location, so using that battery would be an option).

While coastal communities might have to spend more to maintain their Monoliths, central towns in the Puerto Rican hills could maintain the backbone of a trans-island communication system with relative ease. Monoliths could also be built from diverse components to account for part availability (or lack therof). Coastal Monoliths could be largely steel and concrete affairs, while southern/southwestern ones might incorporate more wooden structures. I have images of a karsic region monolith hewn out of stone, covered in neo-petroglyphs, stuck in my mind.

Why Though?

Puerto Rico is in many ways at the forefront of resiliency-as-culture. Many hundreds of years of unstable weather events and dealing with global empirical overlords has lead to the development of cultural patterns that incidently or not, tend to favor strong community bonds and resource sharing (often right under the era-appropriate societal norms, like how community involvement surged during Maria or how central Puerto Rican communities pioneered the first solar coops in the country).

A network of Monoliths would do the same thing to local internet/information access that the horse did/does to local automobile infrastructure. An alternative that, in times of supply chain disruption, suddently becomes practical, if not crucial.