With regards to how skill is more important than technology in these other form of carrying:

A couple years ago I read Survival of the Bark Canoe by John McPhee [0].

There are several discussions of a crooked knife and how it was the "multitool" of craftsman in the northern forests and was used for everything from making canoes to snowshoes.

This led to me learning more about crooked knives and even starting https://crookedknives.com.

One of the most interesting parts about this journey was reading the below quote:

"Skill allows you to do a lot with one tool whereas many tools can be used to replace skill".

e.g. it's hard to learn how to use a crooked knife but once you do learn, it's like having a plane, gouge and carving knife all in one hand.

This article feels very similar in that it probably takes more skill to use a soft bag or basket to carry loads instead of a modern backpack but also gives you a lot more options.

0 - https://amzn.to/4cR46FW

Thanks for the essay Claude. It’s good info, just something feels off. It doesn’t feel like a person wrote this article… what are 10 options to fix this?

Though it's associated with Africa, head portage was commonly practiced nearly everywhere.

https://youtu.be/BRnwg3dpboc?t=731

I'd like to add another thing about the gaucho: the recado (the traditional saddle) was also a really important part of his equipment. It was basically his whole camping setup. The different layers could be taken apart at night and used as a mattress, blankets, insulation from the ground, etc. Then in the morning everything went back on the horse.

> Freshly harvested birch is flexible, allowing it to be woven into complex forms. Once woven and shaped, those fibers create a rigid structure that resists sagging beneath heavy loads while remaining lightweight.

There are stories of Native Americans weaving baskets that were so precisely made that they could carry water.

Funny I've been obsessed with carrying systems since last December when I started going out-as-a-fox to do photography which means carrying a lot of photography gear, therian gear, costume changes, gear to hold gear, etc.

I used to be really clumsy but it seems the more gear I wear the less I get tangled up in things, the more deliberately I move, it's like it rewrites my body image.

Anyhow I ought to find that web site, which sells stuff for carrying, interesting, but somehow I don't.

Lots of expensive backpacks, like really expensive backpacks. I already have an expensive backpack. No leg bags. (I found one that's not quite alt-fashion or cosplay and it's the best for a phone, a few credit cards and 100 business cards.) Nothing 1/10 as cool as the third world solutions they point to for inspiration. And I found a messenger bag on Amazon for half of their cheapest bag that might not tick all my boxes but somehow nothing ever seems to fall out of it even when it could.

It took me forever looking at fashion-oriented sources to find an easy way to carry a tablet where I could grab it instantly [1], then I found out you get something for $12 meant for waitresses which is the right size and has tons of pockets. I'm planning now to get a police baton holder for my selfie stick [2] since it is one more way to demonstrate how prepared I am.

[1] to show people photos I just took and a radical innovation for taking group photos because I can know if I got one where nobody had their eyes closed, funny half the people I show it to think it is a miracle, the other half take it for granted

[2] ... now if I could just convince somebody for a moment that it is a lightsaber!

Obvious slop

The problem is not "AI written" it is that is is poorly written and wastes the reader's time

Not a single comment about the content.

I blame OnlyFans.

Interesting article.

But I don't know if I am imagining it; I'm starting to feel Claude's (AI) writing everywhere. Like this sentence for example:

> The genius of the gaucho’s system isn’t storage. It’s integration.

The x isn't y. Its z.

Yes. I missed that specific bit, but, the more I read on, the less it felt like a nice in-flight magazine-tier diversion and the more it felt like I was reading the result of asking Claude to write an essay about the bearing of loads.

(Which makes me personally a lot less interested in reading it.)

Here's a certified human written post from the one and only Yvon Chouinard about tumplines. Patagonia actually used to sell a tumpline compatible with some of their packs briefly in the 2010s!

https://www.patagonia.com/stories/culture/design/on-tumpline...

Yeah the writing tastes like processed food. There’s no substance just “here’s some stuff people do” but nothing about why it works or where you could learn more.

Yea I also stumbled across that one. Overall the article was really enjoyable to read, but this one sentence threw me off.

X isnt y it’s Z needs to die

Load bearing load carriers.

I suppose I read enough books that I've seen this from human writers all the time for decades. It's even an English construction that I was specifically taught Japanese and Spanish equivalents in my foreign language classes decades ago, and I use the German equivalent with my family all the time.

You're absolutely right! This is a load-bearing article.

Yeah as soon as I hit the gaucho section my clanker alarm started going off like crazy.

Assuming it is AI-written, who cares? Would the article have been written if AI hadn't authored it? Did you derive less utility from the article than had it not been written at all?

Bunch of Veruca Salts here. I want ALL the entertainment/information, I want it NOW, I'll pirate it if I have to, and GOD FORBID IT USE AI.