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HELLO. HELLO. CAN YOU HEAR ME I AM CALLING LONG DISTANCE. CAN YOU HEAR<41>
ME.
A message in two parts.
Part one. EFF -- Thanks, truly, for everything. Mitch, John, Rita, the<68>
two hardcore techie nerds I ate dinner with (flattery not an insult! :-)<29>
(I are one too). John Berman too, even though he wears a suit and lives<65>
in DC. (Another joke; see part2.)
And thanks for the award. I really am awed by it all, in spite of<6F>
appearing to some to not take it seriously (see part 2).
Part two. John (Barlow) -- I hope you didn't think I was baiting you or<6F>
whatever that night in Tenney's room. I wasn't. Really. I was sincere.<2E>
Chalk it up to culture-clash. YOU EAT LIVE BUGS OUT OF THE AIR?? YUCK!!<21>
That sort of thing. I noticed an interesting thing when I started to<74>
think about it. Here 'tis for your enjoyment:
I had a number of subtle and really quite minor reality-jarring<6E>
experiences at CFP2 also. Nothing serious -- just things that I/they<65>
said that they/I took wrong. ("Was s/he kidding? Was I just insulted?<3F>
Was that a joke? Hmm..." etc)
A specific example, at HACKERS 3.0? The one in the jewish retreat in<69>
Santa Clara or wherever. I was in some variation of punk drag, and Rudy<64>
Rucker says, with a flourish, "Great look." I was insulted! Not great<61>
hair, great jacket, whatever (flattery) but I took it instinctively to<74>
mean, what a great costume/disguise/whatever, ie. I dressed up for the<68>
occasion ie. this isn't really me. Maybe I can't describe the sensation<6F>
now, because it was so long ago.
Most likely he wasn't privvy to the tensions ever-present in various<75>
other-cultures, which are always under attack and under explicit or<6F>
implied pressure. And I was certainly far too touchy. The specific<69>
information is lost (Hawking tells us time == entropy). Obviously I took<6F>
it far too seriously, but that was my state at the time. I know Rudy is<69>
a cool person. Oh well. I believe I would have a very different response<73>
to the same event today.
I offer this (CFP2, Rudy at Hackers, etc) as: an example of social­
symbol misinterpretation. This is how it happens. And this is within a<>
fairly homogenous bunch of smart people! These are obviously very minor,<2C>
otherwise-unimportant events of course.
Imagine what can happen when people are *truly* different.
I know you know about this. I thought you'd find it interesting, like a<>
found object. And, in some ways it's the flip-side to my frustration in<69>
trying to describe to netpeople (amongst others) my difficulty with<74>
access related issues (ie. affordability, specific social symbols and<6E>
images being moved about, "cultural imperialism" (can you think of a<>
better phrase), etc).
No reply necessary. I realize this is a long message.
PS: Q: What's the opposite of entropy? A: Consciousness.
END OF MESSAGE
CARRIER LOST
#$$($_)_~~i~i~~