This was the body of an email, composed offline. I don't know who it was sent to. It's fairly terrible writing on my part.
This is the not-for-public-viewing addendum. It's arrogant and presumptious, especially coming on the heels of my previous rant (polemic is a nicer word :-) To be brutally honest, I didn't get very inspired by what I heard people say, socially and ethics-interestedly speaking. With a few exceptions, I didn't connect with anyone signifigantly, nor feel like my goals were very compatible (since they generally (sigh) don't involve anything that makes money, not that I don't want to make money!). Actually I was a bit dismayed, in that those in fact making decisions to launch systems of wide and deep social impact aren't very savvy at all about the ramifications of just what the hell they're doing. But not surprised. Besides people I already knew or knew of (Lee Felsenstein, Howard Rheingold, Dave Hughes, Doug Engelbart, Anna Couey, Cliff Figallo, well people, etc) it seems the people I got along with best were Interval people! I still haven't yet got to talk with Brenda Laurel. To put it simply, it's not my crowd. Would I attend one again? Absolutely! I actually enjoyed it. Attending these things is very much like attending a computer conference in Holland, which I've done. There's enough in common to make small talk, but a huge gulf in other areas, and many times, when you cross it (failing mostly) you find impasses, and things I just don't agree with or like. I wish I could pull a Ghost of Christmas Future on many of the people I meet at Hackers, and other conferences like this, to make them see the ramifications of the damned systems they are building as monstrous side effects. Plus, even more importantly, to see that there are other people, occupying the same, non-exotic physical space, that they filter out of their daily existence, both physically and mentally as they walk down the street (which phrase I use, but I'm sure most of them do not actually do. Walk in a city for recreation?!) Not that they'd like what they see. I have utterly no broad or easy solutions. I used to think, a little outreach'll do ya. Right. Though maybe it would have been the right thing. In circles I travel, speaking here specifically of commodity computers, some (link my punk circles) are fairly literary, and W.P. is the big thing, but no one can afford Macs and no one can put together affordable pclone hardware and steal the right software, etc. A working solution is, and perfectly fitting, community-based computers. I think I mentioned copy-shops in San Francisco, many now have Macs for rent by the hour. They're usually staffed (though not usually owned by) punks and assorted weirdos, making for a bearable environment. There are very few places like the EPICENTER ZONE and EPICENTER SWITCHBOARD, a punk run community center and switchboard, that has a computer (some junky pclone) that gets used by lots of people. Maybe it's time for network connections; but to where? With what resources? Etc ad infinitum. There's no money in it, and most of them (like EPICENTER) are anti-profit. (Classic clash: A few years back, Michelle Shocked, the musician of some note best known a few years ago? hung out at the anarchist BOUND TOGETHER BOOKSTORE, long before her success. After her profitable rise, she wanted to donate some money to them. (They are collectively run at no profit; no one gets paid.) When her lawyers found out they weren't 501c3, the whole thing fell through. Oh well.)