Mythic I

The Mythic I, by Keegan McNamara, is a highly unusual computer. Keegan’s gone to great lengths on his website to explain the thought processes behind its creation. Actually, thought process is the wrong phrase; philosophy is more accurate. If you’ve ever read In the Beginning…Was The Command Line by Neal Stephenson, you should expect something similar.

The Mythic I is built to be the best it can be. No corners have been cut, with a body made out of carved hardwoods, stuck together with animal-hide glue and wrapped in the finest full-grain, vegetable-tanned leather. As a computer it does one thing, and one thing well – the only software on here is a non-networked text editor (as Keegan puts it in his essay on the development of the Mythic I, “the past 50 years have shown us that unrestrained networking is a very dangerous Promethean fire”). We agree wholeheartedly.