HELLO. HELLO. CAN YOU HEAR ME I AM CALLING LONG DISTANCE. CAN YOU HEAR¨
ME.

A message in two parts.

Part one. EFF -- Thanks, truly, for everything. Mitch, John, Rita, the¨
two hardcore techie nerds I ate dinner with (flattery not an insult! :-)¨
(I are one too). John Berman too, even though he wears a suit and lives¨
in DC. (Another joke; see part2.)

And thanks for the award. I really am awed by it all, in spite of¨
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¨
whatever that night in Tenney's room. I wasn't. Really. I was sincere.¨
Chalk it up to culture-clash. YOU EAT LIVE BUGS OUT OF THE AIR?? YUCK!!¨
That sort of thing. I noticed an interesting thing when I started to¨
think about it. Here 'tis for your enjoyment:

I had a number of subtle and really quite minor reality-jarring¨
experiences at CFP2 also. Nothing serious -- just things that I/they¨
said that they/I took wrong. ("Was s/he kidding? Was I just insulted?¨
Was that a joke? Hmm..." etc) 

A specific example, at HACKERS 3.0? The one in the jewish retreat in¨
Santa Clara or wherever. I was in some variation of punk drag, and Rudy¨
Rucker says, with a flourish, "Great look." I was insulted! Not great¨
hair, great jacket, whatever (flattery) but I took it instinctively to¨
mean, what a great costume/disguise/whatever, ie. I dressed up for the¨
occasion ie. this isn't really me. Maybe I can't describe the sensation¨
now, because it was so long ago.

Most likely he wasn't privvy to the tensions ever-present in various¨
other-cultures, which are always under attack and under explicit or¨
implied pressure. And I was certainly far too touchy. The specific¨
information is lost (Hawking tells us time == entropy). Obviously I took¨
it far too seriously, but that was my state at the time. I know Rudy is¨
a cool person. Oh well. I believe I would have a very different response¨
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,¨
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¨
trying to describe to netpeople (amongst others) my difficulty with¨
access related issues (ie. affordability, specific social symbols and¨
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
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