From - Wed Jan 14 14:55:36 1998 Return-Path: Received: from relay1.UU.NET by mrco.carleton.ca (4.1/SMI-4.0) id AA17810; Sat, 30 Jan 93 01:36:56 EST Received: from nyx.cs.du.edu by relay1.UU.NET with SMTP (5.61/UUNET-internet-primary) id AA06232; Sat, 30 Jan 93 01:34:14 -0500 Received: by nyx.cs.du.edu (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA00714; Fri, 29 Jan 93 23:30:41 MST From: ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu (andy) Message-Id: <9301300630.AA00714@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 #202 To: future-digest@nyx.cs.du.edu Date: Fri, 29 Jan 93 23:30:40 MST X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11] Content-Length: 82918 X-Lines: 1546 ______________________________________________________________________ |______________ / | | / | | u t u r e <___________ u l t u r e | _______________________________________________________________________| Issue #202 Friday, January 29th 1993 Today's Topics: --------------- (MO) Encryption and such body modification mail delivery error META re:clothing more lost mail... re:body modification What *IS* FutureCulture Wired Review __________________________________________________________________________ Date: Fri, 29 Jan 93 14:26:00 EST From: "Ric Knight (416)474-3734" Subject: (MO) Encryption and such >>>>> Opinions expressed here are my own and not those of IBM. <<<<< ------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- From the Home Range of Buffalo ---- ------------------------------------------------------------------- Encryption offers the individual the *REAL* ability to communicate privately with others. The snail-mail envelope is secure only because the government says that it won't routinely open the mail. However, given sufficient leagl grounds, the government will open anyone's mail. Encryption gives the individual absolute security of communication which the government cannot tolerate. Criminals would be able to conduct their activities (of communication) unmolested by law enforcement. Wire taps and mail interception is a powerful anti-crime weapon which encryption negates totally. .."go ahead intercept my mail... see if you can read it..." The heavy handed government response is that if you use encryption you must be hiding something criminal... In one swift move we have gone from common law "innocent until proven guilty" to "guilty until proven innocent". I agree that crime must be fought, but I'm not willing to ceed my right to communicate in *ANY MANNER I WISH* to an increasingly control oriented government.... Pretty soon they will legislate that all crimes must be committed in English so the law enforcement agents can follow along..... By the way.... I'm wearing blue cotten pants, American style rugby shirt, red Converse All-Stars, and a cornelian crystal which my Earth-mother friend gave me..... =-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-= | _____//____\\ | SE-System Programmer| | ___/~````\/`~~`\/ Warm Regards, | IBM Canada Ltd| | ((/ ( -00- ) _ | (416) 474-3734| | | \ / |_) | (416) 609-5498| | \ | \ |oo| | \ic | Tie line 241| | | /"" ---| /\~~ |/ | | | || || || || |\night | BUFFALO @ TOROVM1| | ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ | RIC@VNET.IBM.COM| =-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-= ______________________________ From: Ess-tee-ee-vee-ee Subject: more lost mail... Date: Fri, 29 Jan 93 14:09:44 CST Someone on the list sent me a very comprehensive list of some used NeXT systems, I think 2 days ago. If you see this, please re-send the list to me. I saved it or dumped it or sumthin'; it's gone. Steve J. White ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The opinions expressed herein are aragorn@convex.csd.uwm.edu sometimes those of others. aragorn@csd4.csd.uwm.edu ______________________________ From: hassinge@sfu.ca Subject: META re:clothing Date: Fri, 29 Jan 93 14:07:43 PST 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. A 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. 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/thankyou? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -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!" -- ______________________________ Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1993 17:26:15 EST From: bhd0@Lehigh.EDU (-heather) Subject: body modification 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? 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. I was just wondering if any of you have done things like this, and/or what you think about it. If money was no object, what would you do? just a thought from, -h *******WARNING-reading all my quotes could take a long time.****** **************** newest ones are at the top **************** "Spread peanut butter, not AIDS" -Cynthia Nelson "Fear is a little darkroom where negatives are developed." "Closets Are For Clothes." -seen at "From All Walks of Life", a Boston walk-a-thon to benefit AIDS research "The other day I was...oh, wait a minute, that wasn't me..." -Steven Wright "If all of the ignorance in the world passed a second ago, what would you say, and who would you obey?" -Live "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?" -Ned's Atomic Dustbin "When we are alone, you are the cat, you are the phone, you are an animal. Words I'm sayin' now mean nothing more than meow to an animal. Wake up! Smell the catfood in your bank account. Don't try to stop the tail that wags the hound." -They Might Be Giants "Stop yawning. Start yearning" -Ned's "Ninety-nine percent of the people in this world are fools. The rest of us are in danger of contagion." -Thorton Wilder "Sometimes the light's all shining on me...other times I can barely see...lately it occurrs to me... what a long, strange trip it's been" -The Dead "It's 106 miles to Chicago, we have a full tank of gas, a half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark out, and we're wearing sunglasses." -Elwood "Hit It." -Joliet Jake "Men go crazy in congregations, they only get better one by one." -Gordon Sumner "Do you love?" -Stephen King ______________________________ Subject: re:body modification Date: Fri, 29 Jan 93 19:48:22 EST From: Mitchell Porter Well, I've considered getting a fractal tattoo. ______________________________ Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1993 22:36:18 EST From: deh1@Lehigh.EDU (Darrel Herbst) Subject: Wired Review Well, I've read some people talking about this Wired mag, and I just picked up a copy of it tonight, so thought I'd add my couple of cents worth... I must say, it looks a lot like Mondo 2000, but, I must say it doesn't have the cool glossy paper for each page. Another difference from Mondo, which strikes the Mondo/Zine reader right in the face are the Corporate Advertisements. I leave you to make your own comments about those. Brings you back down from your cyber-high of picking up something that I've heard so much about on the Future*Culture list. As I glanced through the pages to take in the visuals I must say that as the page numbers got higher, they seemed to drop off, the 'Wow neat-o' effect dwindling until the last few pages are just reminiscent of something banal as Time, boring black text on white background. If you're gonna be about future-hype, why go halfway? The 'comic', for lack of a better word, and the end also terminates in some sort of anti-technological sentiment that just threw me. Price: $4.95 + tax (American) Store: Brentano's. Incidentally, when I asked for it, cause I didn't see it on the shelf, the lady said, "How did you know it was out?" I mumbled a brief explanation of "the Internet", which did not elicit a reply from her... whatever that means. If you're interested, here's a list of the contents from page 14, and I've read some articles so far, not all, but as a mag for the so called 'not-techno-hip enough, here's a primer for you so you can join the ranks of us cyber-_whatever_" it stands pretty good. I knew a lot of what was being reported, or talked about, therefore, it's not too cutting edge. I don't consider myself cutting edge, you see. In their order: Stewart Brand (Creating Creating, Scream of Consciosness), founder of the Whole Earcth Catalogs, is author of _the Media Lab_, and numerous articles. He is cofounder of the Golbal Business Network. John Browning (Libraries Without Walls) is a technology writer and consultant who lives in Lond. After 12 Years at _The Economist_, he is now juggling various writing projects and research. Fred Davis (Electrons of Photons?) is one of the country's leading computer authors and jornalists. Former columnist and editor of PC Week, Fred has served as editor-in-chief of MacUser and A+ magazines and is now a columnist and contributing editor for _Windows Sources_. When he's not nerding out, Davis raises orchids. Richard L. Fricker (The Inslaq Octopus) is a freelance writer who covers national affairs. He is the 1991 recipient of the American Society of Business Press Editors Aqard. As a freelance national affairs reporter for the American Bar Association Jornal, he has covered the judiciary , the savings and loan crisis, and the international drug war. Simson L. Garfinkel (Is Stallman Stalled?) is a computer consultant and science writeer. Grafinkel is Senior Editore at NeXTWORLD magazine and author of two computer titles. Karl Taro Greenfeld (Otaku) is Tokyo correspondent for _The Nation_ and a contibutor to _Esquire_, Details and The Village Voice, among others. He is currently working on a book about Japanese youth culture. Connie Guglielmo (Flyaways) is a San Francisco-based free-lance writer. A former senior news editor with MacWEEK, her work has appeared in a variety of pubs. Art Keiner (If your toaster had a brain) is writing a book for Doubleday called _The Age of Heretics_. John Markoff (Cellular Phreaks and Code Dues) [we know all about him] Nicholas Negroponte (Kill your HDTV) is founder and director of the MIT Media Lab. He joined MIT's faculty in 1966, founded Mit's Architecture Machine Group in 1968, and has served as a visiting professor at several universities. Lewis Perelman (School's Out) began his career as a public school science teacher. He has worked as an analyst at the Solar Energy Research Institure, a senior scientist at Caltech's Jet Propulsion Lab, and a planning director in a Forture 100 coporation. He directed Project Learning 2001 at the Hudson Institute. His article is adapted from his book _School's Out_. Michelle Quinn (Beyond the Valley of the Morphs) is a full-time stringer whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, the San Francisco chronicle, California Journal, and the San Francisco Examiner's Image magazine. Neil Selkirk (Cover photograph) has photographed the eminent, the prominent and the rich for most major magazines. Despite that fact, he has somehow managed to remain humble and self-effacing. Bruce Sterling (War is Virtual Hell), is the author of four science fiction novels and the non-fiction _The Hacker Crackdown_ and co-author of _The Difference Engine_ with William Gibson. Sterling edited _Mirrorshades_, the definitve document of the cyberpunk movement. Gerard van der Leun ("This is a Naked Lady") is currently Director of Communications for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He has been a book and magazine publisher and author. Other contibutors to the pages of Wired include Greth Branwyn, Ben Calica, Kathleen Creighton, Mark Frauenfelder, Linda Jacobson, Bob Johnstone, Dan Lacin, Phoil Patton, j poet, Howard Rheingold, Lance Rose, Robert Rossney, Dan Ruby, Glenn Rubenstein, Steeve Steinberg, and Jeff Ubois. ______________________________ From: ahawks (pink floyd) 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: Sat, 30 Jan 93 06:30:49 CET From: Network Mailer Subject: mail delivery error Batch SMTP transaction log follows: 220 ESOC.BITNET Columbia MAILER R2.08 PTF008 BSMTP service ready. 050 HELO DEARN 250 ESOC.BITNET Hello DEARN 050 TICK 5290 250 5290 ... that's the ticket. 050 MAIL FROM:<@vm.gmd.de:ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu> 250 <@vm.gmd.de:ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu>... sender OK. 050 RCPT TO: 250 ... recipient OK. 050 DATA 354 Start mail input. End with . 554-Mail not delivered to some or all recipients: 554 Mailer problem: can't read error log. 050 QUIT 221 ESOC.BITNET Columbia MAILER BSMTP service done. Original message follows: Received: from DEARN by ESOC.BITNET (Mailer R2.08 PTF008) with BSMTP id 0999; Sat, 30 Jan 93 06:30:49 CET Received: from DEARN by DEARN (Mailer R2.10 ptf000) with BSMTP id 5290; Sat, 30 Jan 93 06:28:37 MET Received: from relay1.UU.NET by vm.gmd.de (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with TCP; Sat, 30 Jan 93 06:28:32 MET Received: from nyx.cs.du.edu by relay1.UU.NET with SMTP (5.61/UUNET-internet-primary) id AA24990; Sat, 30 Jan 93 00:26:25 -0500 Received: by nyx.cs.du.edu (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA24147; Fri, 29 Jan 93 22:20:55 MST From: ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu (pink floyd) Message-Id: <9301300520.AA24147@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: What *IS* FutureCulture To: future@nyx.cs.du.edu Date: Fri, 29 Jan 93 22:20:53 MST X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11] 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 _________________________________________________________________________ | | | 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. | |_________________________________________________________________________|