211 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
211 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
From: James Still <still@kailua.colorado.edu>
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Date: Wed, 02 Mar 94 13:37:00 PST
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... . . . . . . . . . . . .
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popE x Mass = accelerated_j e s u s
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... . . . . . . . . . . . .
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--- issue 1, no 2 -----------------------------------------------
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#include <stdio.h>
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int main() Hmmm... this is
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{ the second issue
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printf("Editor: Johannes Kepler \n"); of PxM=a_j.
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printf("Copyright (c) 1993 by James Still"); Got an excellent
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} feature piece by
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Patrick Salsbury
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on gettin' every
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'zine, so please
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one up to speed
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I notice that Borland is updating their C++ in cyberspace.
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compiler to version 4.0. Didn't they just Hopefully with t
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put out 3.1, or am I losing track of cyber- he addition of P
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space & time? It used to be a year or so at's piece, more
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before anyone had the nerve to make a full of you will begi
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update to their software, but now something n to see the for
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is a Jurassic Park fossil after a month or mat I'm shootin'
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two. What gives? I myself feel the pinch for here. Send
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as more and more people ask me to throw out me your submissi
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an update to PGPShell. (I coulda swore 2.2 ons for the Janu
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was just released in August....) ary issue now! I
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need 'em right a
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After deep consultation with a TI calculator way. E-mail me
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I've come upon a frightening conspiracy of at still@kailua.
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an exponential scale. Check this out: colorado.edu or
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call up the Hier
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Longevity (L) of a given piece of software oglyphic Voodoo
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is exponentially denegrated over time (t) Machine BBS at
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at a rate times demand (D). So, +1 303 443 2457.
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L = e^(Dt)
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Well, crunch this and you get a cool looking function of x that
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looks like a stock market crash as variable (t) gets smaller.
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I've got it all figured out: pretty soon the programmer will be
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cranking out code just like those old Walt Disney movies where
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all the townfolk pass pails of water to the barn that is on fire.
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(Hurry up dammit, my software is ten daze old; where's that next
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update!?) Of course sooner or later, one of us will stop and
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realize that we didn't even know how to work the last gizmo let
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alone this new bell and whistle just out. Ah well, tumultuous
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times require fast food approaches--we did grow up with Starsky
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& Hutch cool car chases after all. Please excuse me now while
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I send in for C++ version 4.0. I just can't wait to get it.
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------ f e a t u r e -------------------------------------------
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On the Relationship of Safety
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to the Development of Culture
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Copyleft: Patrick G. Salsbury
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salsbury@netcom.com
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-------------------
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I was just thinking about PGP and privacy and how they relate
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to the psychological development of individuals, and thence,
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subcultures. People, in fact, all creatures, seem to have a
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need for safety. The more comfortable one feels, the more one
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will be able to relax, and devote energies to the creative portion
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of one's mind. Doing this, one focuses more "process time" to
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exploring new regions of thought, rather than on various defense
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mechanisms.
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On the Net at Large, people aren't as likely to post all their
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deep-dark-secrets, at least, not without an anonymous account.
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But in more private newsgroups, not as populated...rapport and
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community develop. People feel safer, and open up. On mailing
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lists, things can be more open, and on *private* mailing lists,
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great intimacy can develop, with people you've never met, but
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with whom you share some deep-rooted interest.
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With PGP and other new technologies, people are availed of an
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even greater level of privacy/openness, which allows for a great
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amount of freedom to be and express oneself... One can be assured
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of talking only to those whom one chooses, and others who get the
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messages won't get the real message which is hidden inside. With
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techniques such as these, one can send a message to several
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groups and have multiple messages contained within it. Sort of
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like nested levels of privacy.
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The Net seems to be expanding as people join large groups, or
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who have small groups which grow to large groups, and then
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smaller, self-selecting groups splinter off into a new topic, or
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a refinement of the original one in some new area.
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This, I think, is the main argument of this essay: That by
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assuring people of their level of security, they will
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spontaneously and automatically extend themselves to whatever
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level they feel comfortable. As people open up more, some
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individuals may notice further similaries with others, who
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splinter off into another sub-culture, and the process begins
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anew.
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I feel that this blossoming of sub-cultures may well point the
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way to an ever-growing knowledge pool, hyper-linked by the
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technology which made it possible in the first place. This pool
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of knowledge, freely and easily accessible to any person on the
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planet, would lead to an educational boom on a planetary scale
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the likes of which have never before been seen.
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Individuals, when allowed to freely explore, find that which
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intrigues them the most, and follow along that route until
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they bore of the topic, or find something new to grab their
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attention. This, I think, is the basis behind "Net Surfing."
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People hop from topic to topic, learning new things, integrating
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them with past experiences, and arriving at new ideas, which
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they might then contribute to the Net at Large, which spurs new
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ideas in others, who form new groups, ....and so it continues.
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Essentially, it seems that the most practical way to increase
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the standard of living for the citizens of planet Earth, is to
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increase the mind-power which is working on the various problems
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of the era. The best way to do that is to educate more people.
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And it would seem that the Net at Large may well be the most
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efficient method of info-delivery to the greatest amount of
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people with the least amount of time or cost.
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For example: People often talk about the "problems" of population
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growth in Third World countries, and debate about methods of
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birth-control or population growth-rate moderation. But an action
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as simple as running an electrical wire into the center of a
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village will allow such an improvement in living standards, that
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population will naturally decrease. This power source would allow
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for everything from water purifiers, to light, heat, food
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production, and of course, communications. When people's basic
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needs have been met, such as food, shelter, and warmth, they are
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able to focus more energy towards learning. ("Maslow's Hierarchy
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of Needs")
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More population means more mind-power on the planet. (That seems
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to be the one world-resource that never makes it onto the statistics
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charts as being in demand.) If there all these people out there,
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and they get access to satellite TV with thousands of world-wide
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channels, and get access to the Internet, with it's millions of
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users, and all the Internet browsing tools (such as as Archie,
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gopher, WWW, WAIS, and Xmosaic), which are becoming ever-easier
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to use, then I think we'll see such a boom of intellectual and
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artistic development as to make the Renaissance pale in comparison.
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How to arrive at this? It seems that as technology continues to
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advance, it becomes cheaper and easier to stay in touch more of
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the time, from more places around the globe. And with the advance
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of technomadics, people can now bring along a small computer, and
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"jack in" to the Net from almost anywhere on the planet. So
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suddenly, it doesn't really matter as much WHERE you are, because
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you can carve out your own private niche in Cyberspace, and take
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it with you. Go to a foriegn place, hook up to the Network, telnet
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to your main system, and you're back home, with access to all of
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your information, addresses, files, and friends, regardless of
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where you physically are. And since there are no racial, ethnic,
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age, or even gender-specific indicators over the Net, a person is
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allowed to be whomever they truly wish to express themselves as.
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It seems fairly profound, that a person...ANY person...can go
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into any group, and spend some time learning whatever their heart
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desires, and become an expert in the field. They don't have to
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know a whole lot about computers, because there are places along
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the way in the Net where they can learn computers as they go.
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They don't have to know how to spell or read very well when they
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first start, but their language and vocabulary will improve as
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they go along. There are spell-checkers and dictionaries, and
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sometimes even grammatical and style-checking programs built
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into various text processors. They don't have to be any specific
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age. All that comes across is how well you can express yourself,
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and _that_, as we've seen, is a function of feeling safe.
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Imagine some of the development of these vast expanses of
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knowledge: People can browse through the Internet as they please,
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learning whatever they need, to accomplish whatever it is that
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they want to do. And along the way, there will be spinoffs that
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benefit others. And they will form new groups...and these will
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produce new ideas...and the Net/human mind-power will probably
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just keep on growing...
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----.sig --------------------------------------------------------
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popE x Mass = accelerated_j e s u s is published
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periodically by the sysop of the Hieroglyphic Voodoo Machine BBS
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which boasts and toasts --> V.32bis N81 at --> +1 303 443 2457.
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entire contents of this file is copyrighted (c) 1993 by James
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Still, aka Johannes Kepler and may *not* be extracted or re-
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published in part, or in its entirety without prior consent
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from James Still. All Rights Reserved Poncho...
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send submissions, gripes, comments to: still@kailua.colorado.edu
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REMEMBER: You *can* make a pig out of push pins and an eraser.
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Pave the Earth!
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----EOF----------------------------------------------------------
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