From - Wed Jan 14 15:25:10 1998 Return-Path: Received: from relay1.UU.NET by mrco.carleton.ca (4.1/SMI-4.0) id AA26908; Sun, 7 Feb 93 13:56:29 EST Received: from nyx.cs.du.edu by relay1.UU.NET with SMTP (5.61/UUNET-internet-primary) id AA10254; Sun, 7 Feb 93 13:46:56 -0500 Received: by nyx.cs.du.edu (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA16897; Sun, 7 Feb 93 11:30:29 MST From: ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu (andy) Message-Id: <9302071830.AA16897@nyx.cs.du.edu> X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University of Denver. The University has neither control over nor responsibility for the opinions or correct identity of users. Subject: FutureCulture Digest #217 To: future-digest@nyx.cs.du.edu Date: Sun, 7 Feb 93 11:30:27 MST X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11] Status: RO X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 ______________________________________________________________________ |______________ / | | / | | u t u r e <___________ u l t u r e | _______________________________________________________________________| Issue #217 Sunday, February 7th 1993 Today's Topics: --------------- Fractal tatoos (was Re: bodymods) Manifesto's & Spaghettio's No, I won't be on IRC Paco is Bouncing Powerglove & Sega Glasses Re: body modification Re: Consensus Manifesto Re: META re:clothing Re: Recommendation for people interested in "cyberpunk" stuff: comp.dcom.telecom Re: Time Magazine now!?!? re:body modification Sexuality, homosexuality, Cyberpunk, Labels, the Meaning of Liff Souls piercing my scrotum (bodymods) VGA Sources Warning From uucp What *IS* FutureCulture __________________________________________________________________________ Date: Sun, 7 Feb 93 01:40:27 PST Subject: Warning From uucp From: uucp@lll-winken.llnl.gov We have been unable to contact machine 'spsd' since you queued your job. mail spsd!stanton!qed!aylmer (Date 01/31) Attempts will continue for a few more days. Sincerely, lll-winken!uucp ############################################# ##### Data File: ############################ ______________________________ From: Subject: Re: META re:clothing Date: Sat, 30 Jan 93 16:02:10 MST New fresh-scented *hassinge@sfu.ca* (150% real fruit juices!) says: | |Okay, firstly, I won't tell you what I'm wearing in this post (sigh of relief) |What I would like to suggest, as a personal opinion, to the list at large and |to Mike Cardell specifically, who originated the clothes question, is this: |the subject may be interesting, but ONLY if it is accompanied by some |analysis/opinion/projection on the role/direction of clothing on the new edge |and into our future. This maillist is too large to accomodate the kind of mass |innundation of minute data of the kind we have seen in the last few days. Too large? signal/noise? Relative. One man's noise is another.......... =) |much better approach to the "informal survey" would have been, IMHO, to ask |for e-mail responses and post a summary when the dust clears. Now, don't get |me wrong, I'm all for bandwidth wastage, and I am a style hound, but I like |both best when accompanied with some actual, useful info/opionion/analysis. I'm a style hound and all for bw wastage as well, and I have to agree to some extent, but probly not as strictly as you.... As a Consensus-Overview, it seems to me that there was a lot of interest in the subject, only a few complaints, though many were mummbles from the side of the mouth.... Throughout the whole affair, the list has kept growing in size, and if people don't like the messages they can easily skip to the next.... I agree though, the standard net.ettiquette with such matters is to say "email me please" and then post summaries, data, facts, notable quotes, etc. in a more condensed format.... |P.S. free agent .rez, could you mail me so I get your address to ask you |a few questions on your obsession/study of the internet/USENET, please/thankyo Obsession? It's a PASSION. |- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -fold here- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | Ha!sSinge # "well we had to drown the gat, but we saved you two gittens" |------> Sebastian Hassinger, dehabiltated net.lurker: hassinge@sfu.ca <------ | "run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!" -- ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu FutureCulture: In/f0rmation ahawks@mindvox.phantom.com future-request@nyx.cs.du.edu ______________________________ Date: Sun, 7 Feb 93 01:40:49 PST Subject: Warning From uucp From: uucp@lll-winken.llnl.gov We have been unable to contact machine 'spsd' since you queued your job. mail spsd!stanton!qed!aylmer (Date 01/31) Attempts will continue for a few more days. Sincerely, lll-winken!uucp ############################################# ##### Data File: ############################ ______________________________ From: Subject: Paco is Bouncing Date: Sat, 30 Jan 93 17:15:02 MST Paco, I'm getting: 550 wixer.cactus.org (ddn)... 550 Host unknown errors on mail sent to you.... If you're reading this, or anyone else, has Paco's address changed or is the system temporarily down or....? -- ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu FutureCulture: In/f0rmation ahawks@mindvox.phantom.com future-request@nyx.cs.du.edu ______________________________ Date: Sun, 7 Feb 93 01:41:08 PST Subject: Warning From uucp From: uucp@lll-winken.llnl.gov We have been unable to contact machine 'spsd' since you queued your job. mail spsd!stanton!qed!aylmer (Date 01/31) Attempts will continue for a few more days. Sincerely, lll-winken!uucp ############################################# ##### Data File: ############################ ______________________________ From: Subject: re:body modification Date: Sat, 30 Jan 93 16:40:22 MST New fresh-scented *Mitchell Porter* (150% real fruit juices!) says: | |Well, I've considered getting a fractal tattoo. where? how big? If this was done controlled by like a Macintosh Quadra, that would be some serious cool shit. is it possible to have computers do the tatoo? if not, we should talk about how we could get that implemented.... -- ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu FutureCulture: In/f0rmation ahawks@mindvox.phantom.com future-request@nyx.cs.du.edu ______________________________ Date: Sun, 7 Feb 93 01:41:08 PST Subject: Warning From uucp From: uucp@lll-winken.llnl.gov We have been unable to contact machine 'spsd' since you queued your job. mail spsd!stanton!qed!aylmer (Date 01/31) Attempts will continue for a few more days. Sincerely, lll-winken!uucp ############################################# ##### Data File: ############################ ______________________________ From: Subject: re:body modification Date: Sat, 30 Jan 93 16:40:22 MST New fresh-scented *Mitchell Porter* (150% real fruit juices!) says: | |Well, I've considered getting a fractal tattoo. where? how big? If this was done controlled by like a Macintosh Quadra, that would be some serious cool shit. is it possible to have computers do the tatoo? if not, we should talk about how we could get that implemented.... -- ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu FutureCulture: In/f0rmation ahawks@mindvox.phantom.com future-request@nyx.cs.du.edu ______________________________ Date: Sun, 7 Feb 93 01:41:58 PST Subject: Warning From uucp From: uucp@lll-winken.llnl.gov We have been unable to contact machine 'spsd' since you queued your job. mail spsd!stanton!qed!aylmer (Date 01/31) Attempts will continue for a few more days. Sincerely, lll-winken!uucp ############################################# ##### Data File: ############################ ______________________________ From: Subject: Re: body modification Date: Sat, 30 Jan 93 16:54:10 MST New fresh-scented *mikey@.nyx.cs.du.edu* (150% real fruit juices!) says: | |o.k. let's talk body modification. | |i have my left nipple pierced twice, one vertical/one horizontal, my right |nipple pierced once, horizontal. wow. i'm impressed, seriously....I've never even *heard* of double piercing on one nipple...! cool stuph.... |my navel (belly button) is pierced a single time, as well. | |on my left shoulder blade is a geometric pattern which has been carved in |countless times with a razor blade or scalpel. Yeah, I did a cross on my arm, and I've been debating whether or not to continue my "Fuck This" which ironically lies under the ironic cross. I've been letting it heal, though, because summer is approaching (short slevaes) and it's *real obvious* and kinda ugly. |on my right shoulder blade are three brands, each one is a gear. | |as for why do this? | |i like it. i think its beautiful. it is just a variation of a haircut, an |earring (my left ear is pierced twice, but its been some four years since |i've worn earrings), or a nice suit. it identifies me with my "tribe". yes, |i do believe in ideas of tribal identification. bubbles. |anybody out there read 'shampoo planet' by douglas coupland. i'm currently |reading it and enjoying it. if you haven't read generation x yet i suggest |you do. | |o.k. | |later, |mike e. mike |from the family of e. Crap, this wouldn't be Mike E. of Poor Boy Prods., would it? -- ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu FutureCulture: In/f0rmation ahawks@mindvox.phantom.com future-request@nyx.cs.du.edu ______________________________ Date: Sun, 7 Feb 93 01:41:54 PST Subject: Warning From uucp From: uucp@lll-winken.llnl.gov We have been unable to contact machine 'spsd' since you queued your job. mail spsd!stanton!qed!aylmer (Date 01/31) Attempts will continue for a few more days. Sincerely, lll-winken!uucp ############################################# ##### Data File: ############################ ______________________________ From: Subject: Manifesto's & Spaghettio's Date: Sat, 30 Jan 93 17:02:17 MST Hey all... On that maiphesto shit, I whipped that up on Friday when I was bored, with no real intent of oing anything real big or anything... I just babbled and bubbled and didn't edit (obviously, spelling errors and such) People seem to like it, so if anyone out there thinks it has some potential of being Meaningful in some way or another, let me know... I'm thinking about this in the wake of that apparent new Time issue and someone suggested I send the mainfesto to Mondo or Wired or one of those, which I haven't given much thought of.... At any rate, I *do* think there needs to be some Looking-At about what's going on, the terms we're using, the people involved, cutting through the media hype, etc.... If anybody agrees, maybe we could start a thread about this on FutureCulture and come up with a CONSENSUS Manifesto - the only kind that matters.....This would be for our own reference, for potential/new subscribers to FC, maybe a "hey look we're already here - cut the shit and the hype" to the media..... So, let me know if there's a consensus feeling that we should engage in a consensus manifesto or not....! If so, let's publically start a thread about what to include what not to include, either modifying my existing shit, appropriating from it, or starting from scratch.... [err, by publically I mean FC as a Whole] -- ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu FutureCulture: In/f0rmation ahawks@mindvox.phantom.com future-request@nyx.cs.du.edu ______________________________ Date: Sun, 7 Feb 93 01:42:03 PST Subject: Warning From uucp From: uucp@lll-winken.llnl.gov We have been unable to contact machine 'spsd' since you queued your job. mail spsd!stanton!qed!aylmer (Date 01/31) Attempts will continue for a few more days. Sincerely, lll-winken!uucp ############################################# ##### Data File: ############################ ______________________________ From: Subject: Fractal tatoos (was Re: bodymods) Date: Sat, 30 Jan 93 17:11:52 MST New fresh-scented *Jennifer M. Collins* (150% real fruit juices!) says: | |> ->|Well, I've considered getting a fractal tattoo. |> -> |> ->If this was done controlled by like a Macintosh Quadra, that would be |> ->some serious cool shit. |> |> I say we figure out a way to implant a small CPU to control the tatoo and |> make it change randomly, or zoom in/out as a fractal gen'ing app would do. |> |Wow ... what an idea! How could we do this? Where would you want to |implant the chip to create/grow/modify the tattoo? maybe it could |manipulate skin pigmentation in a |particular part of the body. Thoughts/Ideas anyone? This would make |a seriously |cool thread, I think... much more interesting than the type of |clothes everyone's |wearing ... *grin* *wink* | |>>Almitra<< At the very least, might it be possible to have a regular old fractal tatoo, and then inserted under your skin under the tatoo have a thin layer of some sort of amterial that changes color/look based on sunlight or temperature? Like, ok, I have this trippy bookmark. [ aserious z00m-zoner]. it looks like a very deep latice of little diamonds and stuff, and when you bend it and move it around in the light, the layers of the laticework appear to move, but the bookmark itself is very thin. I'd love to insert the bookmark under my arm, and then when I moved my arm around, or if the light changed, it would look like my arm itself (where the bookmark is) is a holographic laticework of diamonds, infinitely layered. [i'd probably then go psycho looking at my arm under blacklight] similarly, you could get a material that changes color with temperature or light, have that be the basis of the tatoo. if you could get the material to refract in such a way that resembled something like the Mandlebrot set, what a bodyphuck that would be. cool stuph. -- ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu FutureCulture: In/f0rmation ahawks@mindvox.phantom.com future-request@nyx.cs.du.edu ______________________________ Date: Sun, 7 Feb 93 01:42:18 PST Subject: Warning From uucp From: uucp@lll-winken.llnl.gov We have been unable to contact machine 'spsd' since you queued your job. mail spsd!stanton!qed!aylmer (Date 01/31) Attempts will continue for a few more days. Sincerely, lll-winken!uucp ############################################# ##### Data File: ############################ ______________________________ From: Subject: Re: body modification Date: Sat, 30 Jan 93 16:38:17 MST New fresh-scented *-heather* (150% real fruit juices!) says: | |Let's talk about body modifications. I don't mean implants as such, but, like, |things we already have (i.e. body peircing and tattoos and such). |I'm interested in what kind of things you people have done, or might do to |your bodies, and why. |for instance, I'm thinking about getting a small tattoo. I don't know of what, |where to get it, or why I want it. I just do. |for another instance, I know a girl with her eyebrow pierced, and I thgought |it looked cool. I've never heard of someone peircing their eyebrow? Style Alert, leave now while you still can, o slaves to pop culture. =) The Accepted Norms (tm) of visisble piercing in this geographic local seem to be: Eyebrows, nose, earings. Tongue piercing seems cool to me, but I don't know if the hole would grow back or not if I got older and decided I didn't want it. It seems the Ultimate piercing, for a guy, might be: both ears, both eyebrows, both nostrils, tongue, both nipples, skin between thumb and first-finger on both hands, belly-button, penis, scrotum, both ankles[?]. [am i leaving any out? {i'm not sure if I *want* to know any more!}] and then connect 'em all with a web of chains to complete Mr. Samsonite's look, in the above model. Me, I'm content with one ear pierced one time, but I've been debating getting my other ear pierced. |Look at Henry Rollins, or Mike Ness, or Anthony Keidis. What do you think? |In a way, piercing is like implants, think about it. Integrating our bodies |with metal. Enhancing ourselves artificially. Certainly not a New Idea, been around as long as tribal culture has existed. |I was just wondering if any of you have done things like this, and/or what you |think about it. I think it all depends on your individual character, the context of your surroundings, etc. IMHO, tatoo's are nice, but anything more than 1 small tatoo on the upper-arm/shoulder/ankle turns me off it's someone I'm going to see naked or partially-naked a lot. However, I like a lot of the major works of body art I've seen (Rollins for example). A lot of the Japanese artwork is really great, if That's Your Thing. I also like tasteful, relevant messages, like the guy in House of Pain that has "End Racism" in a venice-font across his upper back. That's very nice. As far as piercing's, they usually turn me on, on anybody. I used to know one girl who had shaved her eyebrows, and had each eyebrow pierced 3-4-5 times, so, yeah, eyebrow piercings are fairly normal (at least in my environmental surroundings). I've never met any girl with a nipple piercing, and I don't think I'd want to. you see that on guys a lot, tho. Nose piercings are cool, IMHO, if it's just a stud. Genital piercing of any kind seems freaky but cool in a Sade-fashion. Seems like it would have to be a DIY thing, as you can't walk into a Claire's Boutique in the mall and say "I want my scrotum pierced" =). That one sounds cool.....What do the women on the list think about genital piercing on girls or guys? [This seems highly erotic to me]. |If money was no object, what would you do? What do *you* want to do? My personal tastes are fairly conservative (although I don't know if I can say that after the 2line paragraph above =). For tatoos, I'd get a small clover on my shoulder, a melted dali clock, or a Keith Haring figure-dude. Or maybe something that says "This is art." on my back (with no graphics). For piercing, I might get my other ear pierced, tongue pierced if I knew it could grow back, and scrotum pierced. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ anybody ever done this? email if u have..! | just a thought from, | | -h | | "If I don't know what's cool, will they call me a loser? | If I don't bend the rules, will I stay a loser?" Well, that's a toughy....Are you normal? -- ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu FutureCulture: In/f0rmation ahawks@mindvox.phantom.com future-request@nyx.cs.du.edu ______________________________ Date: Sun, 7 Feb 93 01:43:45 PST Subject: Warning From uucp From: uucp@lll-winken.llnl.gov We have been unable to contact machine 'spsd' since you queued your job. mail spsd!stanton!qed!aylmer (Date 01/31) Attempts will continue for a few more days. Sincerely, lll-winken!uucp ############################################# ##### Data File: ############################ ______________________________ From: Subject: What *IS* FutureCulture Date: Fri, 29 Jan 93 22:20:53 MST WHAT *IS* FUTURECULTURE? A Manifesto on the Here-and-Now Technocultural [R]evolution by Andy Hawks ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu ahawks@mindvox.phantom.com FutureCulture E-List Requests & Info future-request@nyx.cs.du.edu <'send info'> You are five years old. You are lieing on a grassy hill, blowing bubbles up into a clear field of blue sky. Bubbles. Right now, as a five year old child, you look at the bubbles, and words pop into your head: "pretty", "oooooo", "float". To you, the bubbles are almost like people -- at least somewhat analogous to Bugs Bunny or a Smurf. Your wide eyes follow the bubbles as they traipse along the gentle prevailing curves of soft winds, turning, rotating, revolving endlessly in the air. A sunray beams its light through one particular bubble you have been admiring, and within its midst your eyes become privy to a new world -- a heretofor unknown domain of chaotic rainbows swirling about along the bubble. The colors, like a sentient anthill, work at once individually and synergetically to give the bubble it's unique flavor, an individual identity among the community of bubbles. As you lay your eyes on the continually morphing rainbows in the bubble, admiring how this internal shapeshifting never ceases as long as the bubble is "alive", the wind brings forth from nearby another bubble. Now you are focused on two bubbles circling each other ever closer, probably communicating in some fashion on some sort of subatomic level. Now that your eyes know to look for the chaotic rainbows, you enthusiastically discover them in this second bubble as well. The rainbows exist in both bubbles, with only a thinly veiled invisible wall of air seperating the two. The rainbows do not stop in admiration or wonder to ponder the existence of another bubble, they continue on with their duties in the wake of the orbic maelstrom that is the individual bubble. And suddenly, in the mesh of an event that seems at once both predetermined and free, the bubles combine and join forces as one. If the sun catches the bubble-morph at the right angle you can still see a wall, where airspace once existed, within the bubble. All the while, the chaotic rainbows have continued of course, and now willingly flow back and forth between what was once two seperate entities. The shape of the bubble-morph is still oddly circular as a whole, with the original shape of the individual bubble-orbs stil clearly visible. The bubble-morph is stil at home among the individual bubbles and still haphazardly surfs the winds as if nothing had happened. Low and behold, a third bubble approaches its vicinity. Same chaotic rainbows, seemingly no different from any other bubble in the group. *POP!* Quickly this third bubble seemingly self-destructs without any reason, sending a fury of bubble residue out into the wind. Some of it lands on a tree, some on the grass, and yet more lands on the bubble-morph. As the bubble morph continues to rotate, revolve, spin endlessly, the residue makes it's way to the translucent crease marking the marriage of two individual bubbles. And, then, it is gone. Absorbed into the structure of he bubble morph, evolving into yet more particles of chaos rainbows. More bubbles float by the bubbly-morph. Some stumble in it's wake and escape it's grasp, some pop, some are attracted to it and become yet another aspect of the holistic bubble-creature, still other bubbles diverge into a completely different spacial area. If you watch long enough, you might even see one portion of the bubble-morph leave, mutating back into it's original state as an individual bubble. All the while, bubbles are combining into new bubbles, bubbles are popping, bubbles are floating, rotating, revolving, spinning, shapeshifting. Affecting and being affected by each other and other entities such as the wind, a sharp blade of grass, a flower pedal. The chaos rainbows never cease, the bubbles will always exist as long as you, as the bubble-maker, decide to keep blowing bubbles. You are now, let's say, 40 years old. You are sitting on the same hill with your five year old child, urging him to discover the wonders of the bubble world. Your eyes are not as wide anymore, at least not as wide as your child's. But do you still find delight and joy in the wonders of bubbles? There is beauty in the bubble world, even though you may approach it now from the perspective of an accomplished chemist, or physicst, or artist, or engineer, or cyberneticist, or 7-11 night manager. Hopefully, you have not closed your eyes to the magic your child sees, the magic you once saw. It should be obvious, by now, that bubbles are a metaphor. What do you think the metaphor is? I would be interested o hear what peole have to say in this regards. But, since this text is to be confined to the context of futureculture, the bubbles are meant to represent subcultures. The caotic rainbows represent the people, the material articles, the ideas, the *memes* that define those subcultures. Thus, you can see, subcultures combine into cultures or bigger subcultures (it's all relative), subcultures may self-destruct, they may evolve or morph, they may diverge in a seperate direction. But watever the case, there's still bubbles because we, as a global village, are like the five year old -- entrenched in the world of bubbles, looking on with wide-eyes. Probably the most important ideas I have related so far are that: 1) the process is continuous with an infinite amount of ebb and flow among and between and through subcultures with an infinite amount of possible outcomes, and 2) when subcultures combine they do not lose their original individual identity, and may in fact leave, though a synergetic effect exists which is *unrelated* to the amount of individual bubbles combined to produce the bubble-morph. The bubble-morph being, obviously, the combination in some fashion or another of seperately defined subcultures. It is also interesting to note that, ultimately, bubbles are "of the same stuff" which can be paralled to individuals in groups on a vast variety of levels. Let us now turn to subcultures, let us see what bubbles we have blown that provide the basic constructs of what we might deem, for a lack of a better word, FutureCulture. When I use the word "FutureCulture" I am referring to the FutureCulture E-List. When I use "futureculture" I am referring to the culture of the future. But it's not really the future, it's here-and-now, and it's in this writing. There are some other words with similar connotations, but yet the distinctions need to be mentioned, and then applied to everyday life. The first word is "technoculture". Like a technocracy is a government run by scientists or those who create technology, a technoculture is a culture that is fueled by technology. America is a technoculture. We would be lost without our televisions, our cars, our computers, our telephones. Futureculture, then, is a way of deciphering what tomorrow will look like in a technoculture. Another label to mention is "new edge". This is a trendy, shortsighted term that has little relevance to the perpetual realities of technoculture and futureculture. New Edge is a here-and-now-gone-tomorrow ideal. Fairly soon, it won't be "new" and increasingly so it is definitely not "edge". The other misnomre to mention is "cyberculture". Cyberculture is probably most closely associated with the idea of futureculture, yet cyberculture is often mis- and over-used. If you look at the meaning of the word "cyber", basically "information" in an oversimplified context, it has little to do with frequently-used notions of cyberculture, specifically a Gibson-esque cyberpunk world as it exists today or in the near-future. These are my own personal reflections on the world of bubbles, and these labels and subcultural labels I am using are better thought of as what I see as the most outstanding reference points to use in the context of getting The Basic Idea (tm) across. Relative labels and reference points, no dictatorial lines being drawn here. Each mention of a subculture will be followed by a basic reasoning by a defense in applying the group to the idea of futureculture. The idea of futureculture evolves *from* the relationship between different bubbles and buble-morphs. These core bubbles and bubble-morphs produce noticeable ideas, trends, and material objects for example, which are deemed by some relatively large bubble-blower (ie society) to reflect the evolution of society and world culture. Simply put, FutureCulture represents an internal and external effort, both passive and interactive, observational and participatory, to: discover these trends/ideas/objects or at least bring acknowledgement of their existence to a larger segment of the global populous, provide an interactive forum for the global populous to discuss such matters and to reflect and refract varying cultures and subcultures, to then apply this discussion to existing cultures and subculture to plant the seeds spawning further trends/ideas/objects. Thus one can begin to see the infinitely cyclic nature of the process. It is a process which you are at varying levels of consciousness engaged in every moment you are alive, by everything you say or do, and every sensory input. By providing the on-line interactive forum of the FutureCulture e-list, we as individuals and members of varying subcultures and cultures can merge the unconscious acts of participation in culture with a conscious understanding, to create/construct/deconstruct/destroy and evolve reality and people's lives on an individual and group basis. Basically, we are analyzing existing culture, we are creating tomorrow's reality, and we are doing it on a here-and-now, globally interactive, seemingly real-time forum. Thus I submit the reference points, the subcultures, the basic bubbles that are essential to futureculture: Virtual Culture - This is probably the easiest to "define". We can --------------- all say with assurance, that to some degree, in any basic sense of the word, we are all participants and members of Virutal Culture. The essence of Virtual Culture lies in the notion of cyberspace. In this context I might define cyberspace as that frontier defined by electronic communications towhich georaphy has little or no relevance to being a member of the group. If you regularly use a phone, modem, fax, or networked computer terminal, videophone, or interactive video, consider yourself part of virtual culture. Technology is a key aspect of tomorrow's reality. Technology seemingly provides the basis of all constructs we produce. Virtual culture, then, is a giant leap forward for humankind in terms of the way we approach ourselves as individuals, and the nature of how we approach individuals in groups. Basic sociological structures will eventually be realigned to conform to this key evolutionary step as technology continues to increase exponentially, thus forever expanding the limits of virtual culture and therefore potential of all cultures. Non-communicative technological forces will be mentioned briefly throughout this writing, but the most interesting applications of technology increasingly revolve around aspects of communication. Psychedelic Culture - Arguably begun in the 60's, this subculture ------------------- revolves around the use and effects of psycho-active drugs, particularly psychedelics like LSD, to mainfest new ideas, new ways of thinking, new ways of approaching reality and consciousness. One of the mysteries of modern day society is the nature of the mind and consciousness. Psychedelic culture is vital in exploring these areas. These areas in turn are vital to our understanding of who and what we are as humans and the basic philosophical questions homan have asked for centuries. Recently, psychedelic culture has bubble-morphed with virtual culture as seen in the potential exploration of the technoligcal advancements of virtual reality as a means of "opening the doors of perception". Here-and-now extrapolations are evident in the use of "mind machines" as well as the resurgance of 60's guru Timothy Leary as a spokesperson for virtual reality. And need we mention the unbelievable explosive return of LSD acros the US and other parts of the world. Rave Culture - If you don't know what raves are, I will attempt to ------------ explain it, though with a parallel that will disturb many ravers (myself included in the group of ravers disturbed by the anology). Aforementioned psychedelic culture reached a "peak" with the community of Woodstock. Think of rave culture as woodstock in the 90's, though wih obvious notable advancements and progressions: smaller and more specific communities allow for more woodstock-esque events to occur more often and produce a higher deree of community, the music reflects technology -- techno music is the mainstay - music that may often range between 0 and 160bpm that is almost entirely created on computers and modern audio technology and is an evolutionary mutation of disco music generally, and finally, raves are often times associated with psychedelic culture in a general desire to create one's own reality or be part of some sort of *gestalt-consciencous* event. And, most importantly, the idea of raves is to have fun!!! We most not overlook outlets of communal entertainment in futureculture. At raves, the vibe is generally happy and easy to catch, the people generally fun, the music is cutting edge, and, if you want, you can further entertain yourself with nootropic or other psycho-active substances. Basically, raves are the entertainment aspect of the evolving futureculture as it stands now. Undoubtedly raves will eventually morph into something else, as this particular side of culture rises and falls quickly in proportion with people's day to day lives. Raves, as mentioned before, are deeply intertwined with technology as well as some aspects of psychedelic culture, thus their inclusion in futureculture. Cyberculture - This is a difficult culture to explain as it is still ------------ in its infancy, thus it is still comprised of aspects of the varying other subcultures. I will do my best to set it apart from other subcultures. Cyberculture is a here-and-now reality that grew out of the science fiction movement of "cyberpunk". Look at the word "cyberpunk" -- broken down you have "cyber" and "punk" which roughly translates to people using technology and information in ways that deviate from the expected norms and mores and laws of society. Hackers are part of cyberculture. I will draw more criticism by defining a hacker as a "cyberpunk" -- as previously stated, one who uses information and technology in ways that go against the grain of norm society. Let me put to rest an ageold debate that persists among aspiring futureculturists, he said while slowly walking backwards to the bomb shelter. Hackers originated in the 60s, and basically did they same things hackers do now, unly possibly with less of a violent nature attached. Somewhere along the line, those hackers gave up their antiauthoritarian ideals and merged into mainstream society, though they still wanted to be called "hackers" because they can program a computer in nifty ways. Modern-day hackers came along, the WarGames generation, and the connection between illegality (antiauthoritarianism rather) and hackers resurfaced. Old hackers got pissed, and have done their best to dissociate themselves from the genreally-accepted term of modern day hacking. This is most clearly seen in their attempt to seperate "hackers" from "crackers" which I won't go into because old hackers don't realise that cracking is still hacking in the original true sense -- it does take skill and requires privied information. Hackers nowadays, post-Wargames hackers at least, have as their motto "information wants to be free" and thus that is their goal in hacking or, more appropriately, being a cyberpunk. Cyberculture, at its roots, appropriates (samples) heavily from other subcultures. This could be easily guessed because of the inclusion of the prefix "cyber", referring to information. In this context I would like to see usage of the term cyberculture return back to its roots -- the idea of an information culture. That is, a culture where information is an important commodity, if not the most vital commodity. Information is an important commodity in modern global culture, as witnessed by the power and popularity and prominence of CNN and Mtv in our society. When people talk about an information society, they are actually talking about cyberculture, and they are actually talking about a soon-to-be historical shift in society that is currently in it's infancy. Contributions to this shift will be seen in the wake of the ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) and other such technologies as they become more readily available and approachable to the mainstream. We might say then, that cyberpunks (hackers, not just computer hackers either) provide the deviant portion of an existing cyberculture. Cyberculture should *NOT* be confused with technoculture, new edge, or futureculture, all of which will be put in the proper context later. As I have said, cyberculture is in its infancy. We really *don't* live in an information society, because economics, not infomics or infonomics if you will, is the underlying thread that holds our society together. However, this may be beginning to change, as witness in our reliance on economic credit systems (your credit is just information, which can be hacked) as well as on a political scale the intertwining of political, media, and international-conglomerate businesses as the definite powerhouses. At the turn of the century, it was basically just political forces. Post-WW-II, as postindustrial society developed, it became politics + business which continues to this day, but now media (information power) is a substantial force in the global power game. Rudy Rucker, prominent writer and scientist, is credited with the outstanding motto of cyberculture as a whole -- "How fast are you? How dense?" The phrase should be examined in the context of information processing, individuals dealing wth a world that is transforming and morphing from economics-based to infonomics-based. Industrial Culture - This is a misnomre, actually, since we ------------------ realistically live in a postindustrial society. At any rate, industrial culture is most noted for a musical movement. Industrial music is highly technological, though it has a definite rebellious spirit that can easily be likened o the punk movement of the late 70's. Thus, industrial musicians could easily be considered cyberpunks, and sometimes are. Industrial culture also consists of other types of performance art other than music. One notable inclusion is Survival Research Laboratories, which builds robots, and usually does strange things with them like putting it inside a rabbit carcus and having the rabbit carcuss walk around and fall into an acid bath. Again, very cyberpunk. These postmodern industrialists are easily seen as a byproduct of postindustrial ziabatsus arising out of the sleek, slick, greed-filled 80s and their never-ceasing propagation, as seen in the motivations of an indivudal like Michael Milken or a zaibatsu like Sony. Again, technology is prominent in this subculture and by now you are probably beginning to see the extent of the overlap that occurs among these subcultures. The further you go, the more indescribable as individual entities they become, thus the need for a meta-subculture or meta-culture that encompasses the important attributes. From here on out, then, the focus will shift to smaller or more humanities-oriented topics. PostModernism - Postmodern art and philosophy arises out of the ------------- here-and-now state of our world as it has evolved and changed, using WW-II as a reference point to seperate modernism and postmodernism. In the postmodern world, technology is prominent (tv, radio, computer). Information is important (se cybcerculture). Ideas are easily constructed and deconstructed. Communication is more readily accessible and is an artform in itself, witness the popularity of appropriation (sampling) as seen in industrial and hip-hop culture as well as the works of writer Kathy Acker. Politically, postmodernism acceps the reality of a postindustrial world moving towards an information-based world. Postmodernism is a tricky subject, and a parallel between mentioning postmodernism can be drawn to the use of the word "shaman" in psychedelic culture - overused, often misinformed, often appropriated without true understanding. Postmodernism has been around for some time now and stands on its own, thus it is difficult to incorporate it in this context. We must at least, however, acknowledge the fact that the threads of postmodernism reality provide the basis for the evolving futureculture, technoculture, and cyberculture. Street Culture - Primarily Afro-Centric because of the racism and -------------- general inequality that exists in America (specifically), the motto of street culture is given to us by William Gibson: "the street finds uses for itself". Thus, Street Culture can often be considered D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) culture. Hip-Hop (Rap) music is a prime example of this. Kids create singles in their basement (which is also the case with rave music and industrial music) and then market it themselves, or, better yet, market *themselves*. Street fashion is equally D.I.Y. -- small, sometimes local labels that use postmodernism elements like appropriation, also a key elemnt in street music. For example, as I write this I am wearing a shirt by a group called 26 Red. On the back, the shirt has a picture of Charlie Tuna with the words "Human Safe". This is copywright infringement, but it is also appropriation and a realization of the realities of pop culture and not being afraid to apply them. Graffiti is street culture art, as well. Street Culture is a product of a key shift in our postmodern world, which could best be stated as a movement towards individualization and specialization, hence the importance of D.I.Y. aspects in futureculture. You can't wait for someone to produce something to appease you, appease yourself instead. Create your own art, your own clothes, your own music, your own reality, your own manifesto, whatever.....Action is a *vital* element in all of this. Fringe Science - The idea of hyperreality is very important in this -------------- conglomeration of cultures. Hyperreality might best be explained by looking at the realities of the world that brought Rudy Rucker to make the aforementioned statement "how fast are you? how dense?" Our world is now moving very fast, and is very dense. There is so much out there, that people have come up with new ways of looking at Why Things Are (tm) -- new explanations for new realities. Cellular automata, chaos theory, singularity, maybe even quantum theory. Time, space, dimensions, reality, consciousness, life, cybernetics, intellignece, artificial life, subatomic realities, genetic mutations -- these are a few of the fringe scientist's avorite things. A lot of Fringe Science is an outgrowth of people involved to some degree with psychedelic culture. That aspect, combined with the fact that fringe science is "fringe" makes it less valid to some minds. However, these scientists are the post-Einstiens and should be loked at in that perspective. Technology is readily being accepted as a foundation of humankind, and that belief continues to gain prominence in a world technology increases exponentially. Witness the idea of an information society -- that could not occur in a world where technology and the desire to Make Something New (tm) plays second fiddle. Technology in our world is rapidly surging us upward, to a point where we are not even knowing What's Going On (tm). Witness the out-and-out FEAR of people accepting the TRUTH that is outlined in this writing, witness the fear of computers, the fear of hackers, the fear of evolution, the fear of genetic engineering... Those of us who are out there now LIVING this reality that's supposed to be for the *future* have one thing in common - a DESIRE to explore the unknown, to alter our realities, to alter ourselves and our lives, and to alter our real lives ourselves. Simply said, we are morphing. Constantly. On an individual, cultural, and global societal level. Constantly. On a multitude of levels. Constantly. We live in a world full of infinite potential. Reality is what we make it. This may sound like I'm speaking a small fringe special interest grop, but that is not the case. I am speaking to every living individual human being, especially those privelaged enough to live in a postmodern postindustrial world filled with art and technology, money and information, pop culture and subcultures. The future is now. That phrase is overused a lot, but in this context I mean that our visions of the future, what we have written about, fantasized about, our hopes and dreams of what will be -- the seed of those realities exists NOW. In the linear flow of history, we found ourselves at an important nexus in which linear seems much too confining when we live in a technoculture that seems poised to greet an exponential model of time with open arms. Here-and-now and tomorrow we are creating New forums of communication, New philosophical schools, New art, New politics, New technologies, New realities. In comprehending and dealing with these New realities, it is important that we reshape our mindstyles NOW to adjust to constant an consistent fast and dense change. It is no longer enough to say "change is the only constant". We must try and keep as open a mind as possible: keep all doors of perception open, prejudices of *any* sort will not meld (and I don't mean prejudices only in the physical sense, of course -- I mean in the mindstyle sense, the "faith" sense, the action sense, etc.). An open mind, open to all ideas, all experiences, all people, all communications, allows for a completely new transreal way of looking at ourselves, our world, our realities. In that transreal mindstyle we should constantly look and redefine ourselves and our world if it is necessary. For example, we, as a technoculture, need to transcribe *everything* we can via some means, whether it be via computer netowkr, video or audio tape, pencil, etc. Everything from the most individual moments to the most important global occurances. It's not enough that we have I-Witness videos and America's Funniest People and then CNN. Everything that's important and meaningful to you and your life, record it in some fashion or another. This recording allows you not only to better future generations by way of sharing the past, but it allows you the potential of looking at yourself in different lights, different angles (both literally and figuratively depending on the means of recording). We should continue to develop the means and resources to further the specialization and individualization of interactive technologies and interactive communication forums. Basically, this is just the idea that the more say each individual has in their reality, the better. It ultimately promotes democracy and stronger communities. For example, presidential candidate Ross Perot mentioned "Electronic Town Halls", the Internet is a prime example of specialization and individualization and interactivity, and more specialized newspapers and magazines, etc., are also a good idea. Relative to a previously mentioned idea, we need to be more open to change on every level, not only within our own personal lives, but in small groups, subcultures, and societies. We need to be able to deal with the exponential growth of communications in the world, and to do that we are being forced to change a lot of deeply-set ideals about the nature of communities, organizations, etc. For example, dealing with this change might include saying "Hey, we live in a system of representative government created 300 years ago when travel was difficult and communication very slow. Fairly soon we'll live in a world where everyone has some means of interactive electronic communication in their home, whether it be telephone or interactive-television or computer-network. On the basis of travel and communication, therefor, is representative government still a necessity?". On a more realisitc level, we must own up to the fact that in a constantly changing envionment, tradition for the sake of tradiition is futile and luaghable. If the tradition does not serve well the current environment and has no purpose, it should quickly be thrown out and changed. This idea operates on every level, from dealing wih the national deficit, to how you arrange your desk at work, to the nature of power structures that govern the masses. These are not radical ideas, they are just an acknowledgment of necessary changes in how we live our day to day lives, how we operate on every level, from the individual all the way to the individual planet. -- ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu FutureCulture: In/f0rmation ahawks@mindvox.phantom.com future-request@nyx.cs.du.edu ______________________________ Date: Sun, 7 Feb 93 01:48:07 PST Subject: Warning From uucp From: uucp@lll-winken.llnl.gov We have been unable to contact machine 'spsd' since you queued your job. mail spsd!stanton!qed!aylmer (Date 01/31) Attempts will continue for a few more days. Sincerely, lll-winken!uucp ############################################# ##### Data File: ############################ ______________________________ From: Subject: Re: Recommendation for people interested in "cyberpunk" stuff: comp.dcom.telecom Date: Sun, 31 Jan 93 13:22:17 MST New fresh-scented *Mitchell Porter* (150% real fruit juices!) says: | |excerpts from some correspondence. | |> Try comp.dcom.telecom sometimes. that group should appeal to about anyone. |> They have posts ranging from how to hack the phone system, to emergency |> disaster plans to where to buy a cellular phone from. I follow it on and |> off. There must be 100 posts a day on it perhaps 10 are well worth reading. |> It's moderated too for that matter so you only get good stuff on it. |... |> Most of this stuff is off comp.dcom.telecom. I believe it is avaialable in |> digest form. Anyone who is even remotely interested in cyberpunk stuff |> should read the telecom stuff. It's extremely educational and most of the |> time fairly entertaining. alt.dcom.telecom used to be the 2600 of the net, too..... I remember reading a lot about cellphones and PBXs there.... -- ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu FutureCulture: In/f0rmation ahawks@mindvox.phantom.com future-request@nyx.cs.du.edu ______________________________ Date: Sun, 7 Feb 93 01:48:02 PST Subject: Warning From uucp From: uucp@lll-winken.llnl.gov We have been unable to contact machine 'spsd' since you queued your job. mail spsd!stanton!qed!aylmer (Date 01/31) Attempts will continue for a few more days. Sincerely, lll-winken!uucp ############################################# ##### Data File: ############################ ______________________________ From: Subject: Re: Consensus Manifesto Date: Sun, 31 Jan 93 13:20:47 MST New fresh-scented *Mitchell Porter* (150% real fruit juices!) says: | |a nitpick for any future FC Consensus manifesto evolving out of Andy's.. |"fringe science" should be "new science".. agreed! -- ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu FutureCulture: In/f0rmation ahawks@mindvox.phantom.com future-request@nyx.cs.du.edu ______________________________ Date: Sun, 7 Feb 93 01:50:46 PST Subject: Warning From uucp From: uucp@lll-winken.llnl.gov We have been unable to contact machine 'spsd' since you queued your job. mail spsd!stanton!qed!aylmer (Date 01/31) Attempts will continue for a few more days. Sincerely, lll-winken!uucp ############################################# ##### Data File: ############################ ______________________________ From: Subject: Souls piercing my scrotum (bodymods) Date: Sun, 31 Jan 93 17:34:04 MST New fresh-scented *Benjamin P. Wing* (150% real fruit juices!) says: | |Lurker here, coming out of the shadows ... | |In article <9301302338.AA22838@nyx.cs.du.edu> you write: | |hmm ... ever seen a septum pierce? This is a ring in the part of your |nose between your nostrils, like what they do to bulls. I think it looks |pretty cool, but lots of my friends think it's silly. There's also lots |of genital piercings ... foreskin, scrotum, different places on the penis, |also the guiche piercing is kind of way down in your crotch, behind your |balls. | |A couple of years ago, I discovered rec.arts.bodyart just about when it |began. 'Twas a fascinating group, and inspired me to get a little ol' |ear piercing from the local Piercing Pagoda in cultural-wasteland-central- |New-Jersey-ville, one day in October a year and some ago. For me this was |a big step; but a couple of months later it didn't seem so big anymore, |and I decided to do something real big, and went to Gauntlet in NYC and |got a Prince Albert. (this is a ring in your dick, around 5/8" in diameter, |that goes in through the urethra ["piss-hole"] and out through a hole down |below.) It healed quite fast, only a couple of weeks or so, and I've had |no problems since. (but strange reactions from friends when I told them |about it :-) My earring, on the other hand, never healed, so I took it out |last March. A couple of months ago, I went to Gauntlet SF to get both my |ears pierced (yes, I know I could've gone anywhere, and paid a lot less, |but I wanted to make sure they healed OK, and they have.). Of course I |hardly stand out in SF with my ears pierced ... | |Earrings and nose-rings are mostly for show/decoration; but nipple rings and |genital piercings increase the sensitivity, which I think is a better |reason to get them. | |ben Ok, here we go....confessional time...!!! Last nite, while thinking about this thread, and while on IRC in fact, I pierced my scrotum.....DIY....(or DIM, did it myself, rather) I don't really know why...I have some self-destructive tendencies, that might be it, I like to experiment with my body and don't put it on a pedastal, that might be it....And I'm dramatically changing a lot of aspects of my being, recently, that might be it too (but that change is constant, so...hmm...) At any rate, doesn't really matter *why*, the point is that I did it...and I LOVE it! This may sound really wierd, but doing this was really great, made me real happy.... I felt some sort of release, like I had unconsciously been repressing a desire to do this, so that release is very freeing...... I felt very in sync with a primative vibe...Ok, here's how I did the piercing: I had 2 sewing needles, one about 2 inches long and one about 3-4 inches long...I sterilized everything and had all that alcohol-stuph they give you for ear piercing....I made the original holes with the shorter needle, and then reinforced 'em and made them bigger with the 4 inch needle....At the time, there were some tribal beats on my cd player, and so I was standing tere, looking in my mirrored-closet doors at myself with this 4 inch needle stuck in my balls... It was like the needle represented to me the deconstruction of lots of repressed and synthesized mannerisms of modern society....It was a very mind-enhancing experience, to see the least...Dare I say it rivals some heavy acid revelations to consciously and coherently be in touch with a primal spirit, like the foundation of a gestalt id...... the *foundation* of the gestalt id..... It was post-primordial to me, that's the best word to describe it.... At any rate, it was very freeing...I found myself at a Suburb-O-Rama mall today feeling I had reached yet another important connection that the modern masses turn their eyes away from.... If you've ever spent an entire acid comedown in a mall, you can probably relate, if the trip was meaningful.... So, anyway, it's just cool....It looks cool, it feels cool, doing it was cool...Thinking about it to myself in the company of others is cool... Telling people about it is cool.... It;s one of the more meaningful (top 30, if forced to prioritize) happenings in my life.... Now I'm going to add the rec.arts.bodyart group to my newsrc.... This is ADDICTING! I love the way my ego is getting less anal and allowing more of my id to shine.....I think I'll do my belly-button, and then stop.... PS- this type of experience puts the initiatory rituals of the so-called men's movement to shame.....Robert Bly can kiss my pierced scrotum... -- ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu FutureCulture: In/f0rmation ahawks@mindvox.phantom.com future-request@nyx.cs.du.edu ______________________________ Date: Sun, 7 Feb 93 01:52:29 PST Subject: Warning From uucp From: uucp@lll-winken.llnl.gov We have been unable to contact machine 'spsd' since you queued your job. mail spsd!stanton!qed!aylmer (Date 01/31) Attempts will continue for a few more days. Sincerely, lll-winken!uucp ############################################# ##### Data File: ############################ ______________________________ From: Subject: No, I won't be on IRC Date: Sun, 31 Jan 93 21:18:40 MST I won't be on IRC tonite, at least for awhile..... EXTERMIN8! EXTERMIN8!! EXTERMIN8!!! Davros is online....=) -- ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu FutureCulture: In/f0rmation ahawks@mindvox.phantom.com future-request@nyx.cs.du.edu ______________________________ Date: Sun, 7 Feb 93 01:53:05 PST Subject: Warning From uucp From: uucp@lll-winken.llnl.gov We have been unable to contact machine 'spsd' since you queued your job. mail spsd!stanton!qed!aylmer (Date 01/31) Attempts will continue for a few more days. Sincerely, lll-winken!uucp ############################################# ##### Data File: ############################ ______________________________ From: Subject: Re: Time Magazine now!?!? Date: Sun, 31 Jan 93 21:49:32 MST New fresh-scented *Dolgnagerdyia Friltkashnovist* (150% real fruit juices!) says: | |I'm personally tired of the publicity. the only thing it's going to do is |1. get a bunch of posers on the net, claiming to be cybrepunks, flooding |the news threads with bogus rantings. 2. typify and "hollywoodize" our |culture that we'll be scornde as "trendy schizophrenics" and 3. get people |like the govt. and other mainstream agencies to take another look at us |and find better reasons to harrass us. (us-not saying that WE are even |CYBERPUNK) not that this stuff doesn't already exist, but we sure the hell |dont want more. It was always more fun to be "alternative" when it was |"uncool" ...when people would call you "faggot" "batcaver" etc. but now, |in seattle, for instance, everyone is grunge, (even my lil sis, who |listens to Janet Jackson) and the entire point for being "grunge" or |"punk" or "politicaly correct" or "hippie" is dead. it's even becoming |trendy to be bisexual and S&M. and that's whatl happen to us. even if we |dont "esteem" ouirselves as cyberpunk, everyonoe else will. I think you're ready to morph your bubble. You seem like the tpye who would want to keep close to the "underground", or at least "on the edge", or whatever you want to call it.... In my experience, the underground or edge is constantly morphing (changing, evolving), so, don't stop -- keep going, morph the bubble, make a new bubble, don't *POP!* an existing bubble because you now deem it POPular.....[that's not a flame, bw, in case anyone would interpret it that way] I remember when I first "discovered" (hahaah) alt.cyberpunk, one of the very first posts I saw said "cyberpunk is dead".... and within the the evolution of te conversation people have begun saying cyberculture (misnomre) is dead.... IMHO, I'll say again, "it doesn't die, it just morphs". I think that when people do not keep up their interest level or, better yet, when peole find *comfort* in a bubble is when they begin to say "the buble is popping". It takes a lot more than a consensus feeling of death to pop a bubble... I think it takes some notable clear intervention on behalf of Big Bubble Makers, like the government, as you mentioned above in #3, to pop a bubble. Even still, the bubble residue catches on to another bubble. For example, when LSD "got popular" and the hippies climaxed, the resultant government intervention and general fear and paranoia regarding psychedelic culture apparently popped the psychedelic bubble, right? Well, look how the bubble has been reborn, and continues on a very large scale today (ie, psychedelic cultur is prominent again). *And* and, he said again, and, the reside from the first psychedelic bubble landed on the futureculture/technoculture bubble (and cyberpunk culture bubble as well [notice I said cyberpunk culture and not cyberculture - but I guess I could use cyberculture there too, supplying an example like Leri....] - I'm big on these distinctions now, so, hehe, be prepared for more anal labeling and relative defining from my end of things =) )...... Timothy Leary is bubble residue.... [there's a quotable].... Witness his involvement in Mondo, raves, vr, etc.... He's more than residue, in fact - he's his own bubble, and his chaos rainbows travel at hyperspeed..... [Ps, if anyone's lost, the bubble crap refers to my pseudo-manifesto (pseudo until/unless it becomes fc.communal, that is) -- ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu FutureCulture: In/f0rmation ahawks@mindvox.phantom.com future-request@nyx.cs.du.edu ______________________________ Date: Sun, 7 Feb 93 01:53:35 PST Subject: Warning From uucp From: uucp@lll-winken.llnl.gov We have been unable to contact machine 'spsd' since you queued your job. mail spsd!stanton!qed!aylmer (Date 02/01) Attempts will continue for a few more days. Sincerely, lll-winken!uucp ############################################# ##### Data File: ############################ ______________________________ From: Subject: Sexuality, homosexuality, Cyberpunk, Labels, the Meaning of Liff Date: Sun, 31 Jan 93 21:13:38 MST First of all, I'll be on IRC again tonite, most likely in #leri or #circle or #future or #mindvox if anyone wants to hang. Umm, probably be there in an hour, which would be 9pm Eastern Time....Don't know what that is in UT, probably around 3am or so I'd guess..... Michael Current - thanks for that well done post. I tried to respond, found myself starting over many times saying to myself that whatever I wanted to say, you had already pointed out. [rest is to general fc.public] But, anyway, as far as cyberpunk-as-[sub]culture is concerned in relation to homosexuality, I don't think the two have any bearing on each other. Homosexuality has existed seemingly since the dawn of society, and seems to have remained constant, thus it would probably be safe to assume that will continue (at least). Ie, it's a Wrong Idea to believe that homosexuality is *new* to humankind, it's only the constructs of our modern society have allowed for this aspect of being to be more closely examined and/or explored, thus the appearance that it's "growing" (oooo) thus the fear, the prejudice, the hatred, etc. Perfect example of this is American talk shows. As technology creates new mediums, new forums of communication allowing for more information exchange in turn allowing the information to reach closer to home since increased communication generally means an increase in community (whatever that means), we tend to focus on common threads of humankind, ie, sexuality. This is perplexing, though, since in American society sexuality is generally preferred to be kept private, thus when "New Information" or "New Trends" or "New Ideas" regarding sexuality is revealed our seemingly autonomic response is to close our senses to any of these "New info/trends/ideas" that don't conform to our established mode of private sexuality. That aspect combined with the fact that "fear of the unknown" seems innate in humans produces the askew ideas that homosexuality is new, homosexuality will disrupt the fabrics of society, homosexuality is "wrong" for all people everywhere, etc. Umm, that said, let me go out on a limb and say that I think as society evolves (or morphs if you prefer, which is a safer term in this case) homosexuality, bisexuality, and other "alternative" forms of sexuality will increase and be explored more in depth, simply because that seems inherent in systems that bring increased communication because people know that "there's others like me" and people will stop repressing their nature. I'm assuming the mindstyle that more communication = less repression. [unrelated lightbulb sidebar: lots of people associate LSD experiences with your unconscious mind bresaking through, ie less repression. If less repression = more communication, and we aren't repressing with LSD use, who/what are we communicating with/to? or is my statement of ~=ity screwed up and more communication != less repression? or maybe an IFF needs to be added, blahblah....] AARGH, anyway, I'm just saying "get used to the reality of homosexuality because: 1) it is natural (ie, can be born-with), 2) we're increasing our communication which an outgrowth of will be more openness in regards to sexuality. Something I've been wanting to say about this for awhile, that will probably draw large discussions: Some prominent sociologists hold to the theory that the more complex society becomes, the more psychological dysfunctions/problems arise. Agree or disagree? Are American talk shows example A?!?! (ie, every American ytalk show seems to have 3 people with some new psychological or psychosomatic problem, and then 1 "psychologist" who has just "discovered" this problem and written a book about it....) Getting back to homosexuality, I believe it is both born and bred -- both possibilities exist. It could be innate, or it could be a result of your environment as a child/adolescent/[adult? - goes against Erickson, Freud, et al but who knows].... In the cases of it not being inbred - a result of the environment instead - is *that* an exemplification of the idea that complex society = new psychological problems? Is environmentally-induced homosexuality a "problem"? Keep in mind that more and more evidence points to the fact that it is genetic as well, though there's no evidence that *all* who are homosexual have this genetic trait..... Also, is homosexuality an evolutionary mutation? it seems contradictory, but maybe...who knows.....aargh....in my mind i'm getting into entropy and stuff, and I can't sort it all out coherently...crud... Thus would be a good starting point for discussing The Future of Sexuality (not just homosexuality) on FC...... I'm going to quit now because I'm losing my coherency and I need to save *some* for IRC.... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- other matters: New fresh-scented *Phigs archive maintainers* (150% real fruit juices!) says: | |Ok, I've been thinking about stuff and I decided I would write a message |to recount some of my experiences... | |Lately I've been hanging around some punks at my school. Some of them define your definition of punks, please.... |are kinda cool, socialists and the bit, which I find cool, but some of |them are really big assholes. First of all, there happens to be a I don't see the relevance of the underlying connotation punks ~= socialism. [~= = kinda-sorta equal =) ] |certain teacher at my school which I don't like. I called him a 'fag', |not that I have anything against homosexuals, its just that its a common |expression that we use around here for people we don't like. Anyways, he but you still make the connotation in your mind, otherwise you wouldn't have made that statement..... sort of a freudian slip.... |happened to think the guy was nice, and he called me 'trendy'. Oh no! |Hahaha, imagine calling me trendy. What a fukn d00f. define your definition of trendy, please.... [ps, these define things aren't flames -- i do this to everybody, bopth on and off the net....bu I'm less anal-sounding about it off the net] |Then, I was reading an old mondo that day and they happened to ask what |it was, so I told them it was a 'cyberpunk' magazine, cause basically, |thats what its trying to be. From then on they haven't let up about |me assigning 'labels' to things, which I think is total bullshit. umm, first off, since we're immersed in labels already, which is one of the foundations of existence as a community, i think the consensus at Mondo might lean more towards calling themselves "new edge" rather than "cyberpunk".....this is a popular askew-meme [!..=)] that propagates... [this = Mondo is cyberpunk] |Grr, as I said in my last post its not like being 'grunge' really. You |gotta know what you're doing to build a VR system and program it, or |to break into the Pentagon or something equally daring. :) Obviously, |they are total morons and I'm just writing this message cause they |pissed me off. I mean, they used a label like 'trendy' on me. Haha, fukn |hypocrites. but *your* interpretation of the label trendy and *their* interpretation of the label trendy and *my* interpreatation as well as everybody else's could be very mis-aligned.... not only interpretation, but, more appropriately, subjective implications (ie unconscious "good v bad" decision-making) Your encounter exemplifies my expressed need (desire) to DEFINE things, and to REALIZE that it's not enough to define, but we must also CONSTANTLY engage in REDIFINING.....(ie, reality-vocab-checks) It seems this pheomenon of "too many labels, too many perceptions" that go unchecked is an outgrowth of people's inability to cope with a world that has an increasing population and exponentially increasing communications.... Something I feel we *have* to deal with in the future....The first step is making conscious and unconscious decisions to do this on a personal level....Then, it'll spread (like butter) and soon everyone will be more open about reality-checking labels with each other... by reality-checking I mean conversations like (hypopthetical example[?]): You're a trendy. What do you mean by trendy? You know what I mean. I know what trendy means to *me*, but I don't know what trendy means to you, so tell me what you mean by trendy. By trendy I mean you follow styles just to be hip. What do you mean by hip? What's hip? Well, you're wearing a flannel. flannel is hip because it's grunge. What do you mean by grunge? Flannel and Seattle Bands. All bands from Seattle are grunge? Only bands from Seattle are grunge? Well, no, but any garage band that has loud guitars and indecipherable vocals and has a raw aggressive sound could possible considered grunge, in my mind. Anyway, grunge is hip, grunge is trendy. Hip = trendy? Usually, yeah, at least to the mainstream. What do you mean by mainstream? People who are not as on the edge of the underground as I am. So therefor, trendy is mainstream, not underground, at least relative to where you consider yourself to be. Grunge is an eexemplification of trendy, then, at least to you, because it's hip to the trendy people. Therefor grunge is not underground. You say I am a trendy, I am mainstream, I am not udnerground because I am wearing flannel, and a flannel, according to you, is hip, trendy, not underground. Well, yeah....dude, you're wierd....fuck you.... [starts to walk away] So should I desire to be more "underground" then? Accoridng to you? Well, yeah, if you don't want to be a trendy. Ok, then, I want to be underground. what's underground? Dress like me dude! Dress like a hardcore raver, like I am. Ok, then, I will. Are you hip? Yeah.... [laughs] My friends will dress like you to. We will all be hip. Cool.... Then we will all be trendy together. Wha????? Huh? Because we will be mainstream, then, so we'll be trendy. [repeat if necessary, infinite cycle] [end Schizocratic Dialogues, Chapter 1 - The Mem-opher King] seriously, I did a lot there....It shows the conformity inherant in society [which should be obvious anyway], but hopefully it still shows the importance of reality-checking your labels, which of course requires suitable reference points [ref back to FC manifesto]... Actually it didn't show the importance of reality checking, but, umm, I think that was evident way way above..... The Beastie Boyz encourage everyone to "Check yer Head" I encourage everyone to "Check yer Memes" keep track of them...Watch them shiver, see them quiver, see them morph, see them sea monkeys grow!!!! try and maintain some common ground... |Maybe we can get some kind of discussion going from this. :) hahahahahahahha oh, wow, so out of sync I'm *in* sync on this one..... |-Chaos (s442223@nexus.yorku.ca) | "eee aaa ooo yyy" |-- |Chaos is s442223@nexus.yorku.ca - only virtual in appearance, naked eyes canno |Chaos is also N'vrekh Ianu tr'Fnavh ... go figger. Call him mud adminstrator |for GodNet/Final Frontier. Hey whatever. The look. Get it. da da da. Bored yet |GodNet is at morticia.cnns.unt.edu 7777 --- Based on the Torg GodNet Universe! -- ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu FutureCulture: In/f0rmation ahawks@mindvox.phantom.com future-request@nyx.cs.du.edu ______________________________ Date: Sun, 07 Feb 93 10:00:45 MST From: Juggler Subject: Powerglove & Sega Glasses Sorry to bug eveyone on this, but can anyone send me the address for fringewear again. Also, where can I FTP texts on powerglove stuff. Thanx. -Juggler- --- Juggler IH23@utep.BITNET IH23%utep@utepvm.ep.utexas.edu Sysop of Three Ring Circus (915)564-0026 **Bill Gates is a big weenie.** Disclaimer: My school hates my opinion. ______________________________ Date: Sun, 07 Feb 93 10:05:59 MST From: Juggler Subject: VGA Sources Does anyone know of any source code for VGA demos that increases scroll speed? -Juggler --- Juggler IH23@utep.BITNET IH23%utep@utepvm.ep.utexas.edu Sysop of Three Ring Circus (915)564-0026 **Bill Gates is a big weenie.** Disclaimer: My school hates my opinion. _________________________________________________________________________ | | | That's all for today! | | To send a message to the list: future@nyx.cs.du.edu | | To subscribe/unsubscribe/change format: future-request@nyx.cs.du.edu | | All other requests: future-request@nyx.cs.du.edu | | List Maintainer is: (andy [aka hawkeye]) ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu | |_________________________________________________________________________| | | | The opinions expressed in FutureCulture are those of the individual | | author only. | |_________________________________________________________________________|