it was way back in the dark ages of 1997, i got the solar panel from a local eco-guru, who had some small models, which we then outfitted with the right jack, and tested to make sure had the right voltage and a/c.
i cannot stress just how wicked it was to a) not have to worry about having the right plugs b) not having to worry about having electricity c) rocking the funky joint!
we all heard the assumption that at the center of the galaxy is a black hole, well, what if at the center of our culture is another black hole: the Internet.
it just sucks us (and all (that) matter around it) into some never ending online universe
- eventually they would force people to get licenses
- where would all the parking lots (helipads) be?
i recently looked into how much and how long getting a pilot's license (1year and $10K) takes, and given that helicopters are the automobiles of the future, wouldn't there be a great opportunity to make money teaching people how to be copter pilots?
i suppose the helicopters will all run on gnu/linux software right 8)
how do you see the industry of journalism responding to facilities like slashdot which are essentially user driven? how will journalists get paid or support themselves if the audience does almost all of the work for them?
it would appear that it is the editor, and not the journalist, who is empowered by this configuration of hypermedia. what do you think about the traditional roles that have defined journalism, and the related industry, that exists because of said roles?
the washington post carried an article the day after the merger talking about AOL and AT&T being the next possible mega merger. essentially it would create the new american monopoly for the twenty first centiry, capable of taking on the european and asian monopolies. scary stuff when you think about it...
will there ever be a time when there is no alternative to AOL?
i mean its easy to have an alternative to Microsoft in that its only software. but actually building and maintaing physical infrastructure (a la Time Warner) is really a big ordeal.
AOLers are and always will be Lamers (with a capital 'L') but how much bigger is AOL gonna get?
clearly they're gonna use monopolisitic tactics, so how are we going to ensure that they don't become a monopoly!
there used to be hundreds of local ISPs in my home town (Toronto) but now there are only a handful. what does the future hold for the home user?!
well in some respects this isn't much of a surprise. if its one thing lawyers (and their clients) like to do is make (serious) threats.
of course part of the campaign is that 2600 is not your average web site, and if anything, the name alone should be enough to encourage people to setup mirrors all over the nets as soon as possible.
part of me wonders why the industry and their lawyers bother, but another part of me realizes that (digital) democracy doesn't come easy.
so how many of us run servers, and how quickly can we work to ensure that information remains free?
i think a lot of the media hype around the role of the internet in the upcoming elections has a lot to do with the decreasing participation over the last few decades.
some people see the internet as a means of reaching out to otherwise discontented and apathetic voters by providing more customized and relevant fora for discussion of electoral issues. whether or not this actually occurrs is a whole other issue, cause much of the media coverage of the election itself is comparable to canned laughter: entirely predictable. will the internet be that much different?
personally i'm curious to see how slashdot covers the elections. so far i think its just fine:)
does not the government of china have a firewall blocking sites from mainland china? i also believe that each internet user has to register with the government. doesn't that make using the internet rather hazardous unless you conform to the regime's wishes?
i think more and more of these types of stories will continue, that is, until the media get their respective heads out their asses.
how many years has it taken us to seperate hackers from crackers? and even then, there are so many shades within each of these rather obscure identities.
i mean would we call a bankrobber a 'renegade teller'?
sure computer (network) security is a serious issue, for business, and society, but to demonize all criminal activity within what is really an obscure genre (cracking) is just useless.
instead of creating an empowered and informed citizenry, it seems all the media are generally interested in, is nurturing fear, at the expense of broader internet comprehension.
some interesting sentences from sire sterling:) i especially like this sentence:
"We need clean, supple, healthy means of support for a crowded world."
which as another respondent noted is an image of slashdot as intelligentsia since it is increasingly crowded here, and yet a clean and healthy discourse arises on its own regardless.
"We need an ideology that embraces its own obsolescence."
is that wishfull thinking? or just the nature of democracy? a constant reinvention and patch to the socio-political process? a good idea, but the one thing history has shown, is that those with power do anything the can to keep it, and while getting more.
"We need to re-imagine life and make the new implications clear. Its a murky situation, but we must not flinch from it; we must drench all of it in light."
the open source society rises!
while our biggest enemy is an uninformed citizenry, our biggest ally is the openness and potential for collaboration embedded in these networks.
i like what bruce is saying in his manifesto, i just think it takes a lot more work than any of us think to actually make the nicer parts reality.
regardless of recent market fluctuations, this should boost redhat in a big way. i think its a great move, and hope it spurs catalytic interest in open source computing in china.
its ludicrous to suggest that 'communists in china' would be the biggest user of gnu/linux/open source, when in fact, its the entrepreneurial class (mixed with the military) that is the driving (economic) force in china right now. the communists are doing their best just to keep up.
frame this within a deep and diverse culture of a multi-millenial civilization (that is what we call china), and you may find the utopia of new found developers and users. while the chinese state may be harsh and severe, the chinese people are as curious and interested in new things as the rest of us.
as our respective governments (american and chinese) continue to banter and boast of their power and prestige, is it not then up to us, the people, to brige the cultural gaps, and find a shared space (internet) of understanding (open source)? otherwise what is to stop the hawks on both sides from using we the people as fodder for their conflicts?
Slashdot Mirror
felix stalder, the author of the telepolis articles is involved in an open source business called openflows.
it was way back in the dark ages of 1997, i got the solar panel from a local eco-guru, who had some small models, which we then outfitted with the right jack, and tested to make sure had the right voltage and a/c.
i cannot stress just how wicked it was to a) not have to worry about having the right plugs b) not having to worry about having electricity c) rocking the funky joint!
damn it was an awesome year 8)
i mean we all get sucked into it right?
we all heard the assumption that at the center of the galaxy is a black hole, well, what if at the center of our culture is another black hole: the Internet.
it just sucks us (and all (that) matter around it) into some never ending online universe
;)
some quick thoughts:
- eventually they would force people to get licenses
- where would all the parking lots (helipads) be?
i recently looked into how much and how long getting a pilot's license (1year and $10K) takes, and given that helicopters are the automobiles of the future, wouldn't there be a great opportunity to make money teaching people how to be copter pilots?
i suppose the helicopters will all run on gnu/linux software right 8)
say stuff in reference to winy2k like:
"more security than the popemobile"
and
"the only employee that will never take a sick day"
goebells number one rule of propaganda:
when you lie, lie big!
here's my question for you jon:
how do you see the industry of journalism responding to facilities like slashdot which are essentially user driven? how will journalists get paid or support themselves if the audience does almost all of the work for them?
it would appear that it is the editor, and not the journalist, who is empowered by this configuration of hypermedia. what do you think about the traditional roles that have defined journalism, and the related industry, that exists because of said roles?
i found these two links from the A-Infos Radio Project:
this is an MP3 interview with the Professor
and this is his essay on Nanosocialism
basically he talks about the social aspects of nanotechnology, building on some of the promise resident in the molecular and massively mirco scale.
the washington post carried an article the day after the merger talking about AOL and AT&T being the next possible mega merger. essentially it would create the new american monopoly for the twenty first centiry, capable of taking on the european and asian monopolies. scary stuff when you think about it...
will there ever be a time when there is no alternative to AOL?
i mean its easy to have an alternative to Microsoft in that its only software. but actually building and maintaing physical infrastructure (a la Time Warner) is really a big ordeal.
AOLers are and always will be Lamers (with a capital 'L') but how much bigger is AOL gonna get?
clearly they're gonna use monopolisitic tactics, so how are we going to ensure that they don't become a monopoly!
there used to be hundreds of local ISPs in my home town (Toronto) but now there are only a handful. what does the future hold for the home user?!
for the 10 years i've been on the net i've always found IRC to be the penultimate geek confessional
:)
well in some respects this isn't much of a surprise. if its one thing lawyers (and their clients) like to do is make (serious) threats.
of course part of the campaign is that 2600 is not your average web site, and if anything, the name alone should be enough to encourage people to setup mirrors all over the nets as soon as possible.
part of me wonders why the industry and their lawyers bother, but another part of me realizes that (digital) democracy doesn't come easy.
so how many of us run servers, and how quickly can we work to ensure that information remains free?
i think a lot of the media hype around the role of the internet in the upcoming elections has a lot to do with the decreasing participation over the last few decades.
:)
some people see the internet as a means of reaching out to otherwise discontented and apathetic voters by providing more customized and relevant fora for discussion of electoral issues.
whether or not this actually occurrs is a whole other issue, cause much of the media coverage of the election itself is comparable to canned laughter: entirely predictable. will the internet be that much different?
personally i'm curious to see how slashdot covers the elections. so far i think its just fine
does not the government of china have a firewall blocking sites from mainland china? i also believe that each internet user has to register with the government. doesn't that make using the internet rather hazardous unless you conform to the regime's wishes?
i think more and more of these types of stories will continue, that is, until the media get their respective heads out their asses.
how many years has it taken us to seperate hackers from crackers? and even then, there are so many shades within each of these rather obscure identities.
i mean would we call a bankrobber a 'renegade teller'?
sure computer (network) security is a serious issue, for business, and society, but to demonize all criminal activity within what is really an obscure genre (cracking) is just useless.
instead of creating an empowered and informed citizenry, it seems all the media are generally interested in, is nurturing fear, at the expense of broader internet comprehension.
when will the media grow up i wonder?
some interesting sentences from sire sterling :)
i especially like this sentence:
"We need clean, supple, healthy means of support for a crowded world."
which as another respondent noted is an image of slashdot as intelligentsia since it is increasingly crowded here, and yet a clean and healthy discourse arises on its own regardless.
"We need an ideology that embraces its own obsolescence."
is that wishfull thinking? or just the nature of democracy? a constant reinvention and patch to the socio-political process? a good idea, but the one thing history has shown, is that those with power do anything the can to keep it, and while getting more.
"We need to re-imagine life and make the new implications clear. Its a murky situation, but we must not flinch from it;
we must drench all of it in light."
the open source society rises!
while our biggest enemy is an uninformed citizenry, our biggest ally is the openness and potential for collaboration embedded in these networks.
i like what bruce is saying in his manifesto, i just think it takes a lot more work than any of us think to actually make the nicer parts reality.
coding a democratic future is a difficult job...
regardless of recent market fluctuations, this should boost redhat in a big way. i think its a great move, and hope it spurs catalytic interest in open source computing in china.
its ludicrous to suggest that 'communists in china' would be the biggest user of gnu/linux/open source, when in fact, its the entrepreneurial class (mixed with the military) that is the driving (economic) force in china right now. the communists are doing their best just to keep up.
frame this within a deep and diverse culture of a multi-millenial civilization (that is what we call china), and you may find the utopia of new found developers and users. while the chinese state may be harsh and severe, the chinese people are as curious and interested in new things as the rest of us.
as our respective governments (american and chinese) continue to banter and boast of their power and prestige, is it not then up to us, the people, to brige the cultural gaps, and find a shared space (internet) of understanding (open source)? otherwise what is to stop the hawks on both sides from using we the people as fodder for their conflicts?