Whole Earth Index

Here lies a nearly-complete archive of Whole Earth publications, a series of journals and magazines descended from the Whole Earth Catalog, published by Stewart Brand and the POINT Foundation between 1968 and 2002. They are made available here for scholarship, education, and research purposes.

The Whole Earth Catalog was an American counterculture magazine and product catalog published by Stewart Brand several times a year between 1968 and 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998. The magazine featured essays and articles, but was primarily focused on product reviews. The editorial focus was on self-sufficiency, ecology, alternative education, “do it yourself,” and holism, featuring the slogan “access to tools.”

Source: Whole Earth Index / Noted: 2025 February 5 / Discuss: On Dreamwidth

Dang, I remember when you couldn't find the Catalogs anywhere and had to buy them used on eBay (if you wanted them), and now the whole collection is online for free! This page also has CoEvolution Quarterly, Whole Earth Software Review, Whole Earth Review, Whole Earth Magazine, and various special publications.

I'm a bit conflicted about the whole earth catalog. On the one hand its amazing. On the other, its the root that grew into what is now silicon valley.

The WEC is where technology diverged from military and aerospace to consumers. the techno-hippies of the Whole Earth Catalog from their nice houses in Marin launched the WeLL BBS and were a huge influence on Steve Jobs. their culture of do it yourself enthusiasm and radical experimentation - while in many ways admirable, and exciting, contained a few serious flaws in its core ideologies. those flaws and oversights have grown into the problems we have with technology fifty years later after those techno-hippies took over the world.

the whole earth catalog and the California techno-hippies that put it together indirectly what gave us Apple, Burning Man, Tesla, Facebook and social media, Google, the Web, Reddit, Slashdot, hacker culture, bitcoin and cryptocurrency.. the list is endless. Their ideological blind spots are why we have many of the problems we have with big technology today. And you wouldn't think that all came from a catalog of home-canning supplies and dome houses and moog synthesizers.. but it kind of did.

Source: r/RetroFuturism / Noted: 2025 February 6

In our current era—one defined by climate collapse, international conflict, and the decline of democracy—the question of the utility of the Whole Earth Catalog is fraught. Is it now simply an archive of a lesser-tech era, the subject of a mythology perpetuated by the unduly optimistic Silicon Valley–types who idolize its publisher while building their lavish bunkers? Can we ever fathom dwelling in self-sufficiency, or imagine a new path to utopia? I felt compelled to dig around for answers.

Source: Untapped Journal / Noted: 2025 February 6

The WELL was founded in 1985 in association with the Whole Earth Review and has been owned since 2012 by a group of its long-term active members. The outpouring of support confirmed that The WELL continues to cast a long cultural shadow. Not quite underground, though sometimes under the radar, for many people it’s a place you aren’t quite sure you’ve heard of, but suspect that you wish you had. For members, it’s the place to come up with the next interesting thing. Ultimately, it becomes a way to live.

There is nothing quite like The WELL, and the secret has a lot to do with its evolution. Stewart Brand and Larry Brilliant founded the Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link in 1985, starting with a dialog between the fiercely independent writers and readers of the Whole Earth Review. This set the tone for the playful intellectual and social gathering that continues today. Over the years, WELL members have made fast friends, created enduring traditions, gathered casually face-to-face in cities ’round the world, and provided mutual support. They have founded organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Craig’s List, and documented what was emerging in books like Howard Rheingold’s The Virtual Community, John Seabrook’s Deeper, and Katie Hafner’s The WELL. They have gone into business together, fallen in and out of love, cultivated feuds, taken kickass vacations together and enriched lives.

The WELL social experience continues to evolve and surprise.

Source: Well.com / Noted: 2025 February 6