Hack the Planet has been getting more and more popular. The discussion board there has crossed some sort of threshold, and now seems like a very important public place. Is that what slashdot used to be like? I came too late to the party to be sure. Anyway, I guess it's the case that very smart computer programmers like to communicate with other very smart computer programmers. The technical stuff is largely over my head, but lately there hasn't been much technical stuff.
I can see now that this post is going to be a little long, but there is a payoff.
Anyway, Wes posted this picture on March 28, and 8 minutes later Aaron Swartz posted this reply. What happened next was probably the most interesting discussion thread I've ever watched unfold (and watching is all I do on that board.) Aaron, evidently, is a very bright 14 year old computer geek. He is very articulate. Maybe you remember him as the author of this great article (explaning the "semantic web") that I linked to a week and a half ago. And that's just one of his interests. Another is a more quixotic quest to change the american educational system which he sees as basically bankrupt, full of busy work, and signifying nothing. (Of course this is all to put words in his mouth which is a dangerous thing, but I have to summarize somehow.) Anyway, the discussion thread on Hack the Planet turned into a beautiful/frightning back and forth between the very outspoken and unfearful Swartz, and a variety of much older, more jaded, but also highly intelligent and outspoken programmer types. It was clearly evident that many saw Aaron as youger versions of themselves: overly smart in a specifically technical sense that makes it difficult to fit inside a strict bureaucracy (be it a corporate job, or american high school.) Many had very kind encouraging things to say to him. Many had what I thought very wise advice for growing up feeling you are a little different. A few thought he should quit complaining and just swallow his medicine. That's the way it is with internet conversations. They can get a little heated. They can get a little nasty. This is part of what makes them so interesting. Some of the social regulations which govern face to face communications are stripped away, and you can really get at what people think. Sometimes it's not so nice. O.K., here's the payoff. My favorite person to read on the site is David McCusker. His personal site is here. What he does is so far beyond me that I couldn't begin to judge his competence, but I can tell how the other people treat him, and let's just say he carries some weight. When the thread began to get a little personal I started wondering if someone would step in, and David McCusker did. Here's his reply (hint: that's the payoff, go read that entire post.) I say we put this guy in charge. If only every person new to the internet, and this particular way of communicating, could be persuaded to read his post. I think he makes the world a better place.
i,m a slave to love
Thanks for the culling, great great stuff, and reading the responses to McCusker from Winer and others following your suggested link was good too. One of the responses posted a link to support his (Winer's) opinion that you can't disagree with a woman and get away with it. And since the esteemed Winer broke the ice with that bit of sexism I feel more comfortable to add mine, base on this "copy" of Dori's words--"Well, I'm now an official nasty bitch."
I don't think so sweetness, you just another lonely soul needing to get laid. Maybe me and you should meet, if the sex wasn't to your liking, you could try to humiliate me so the evening wouldn't be a total waste. I don't really have the self control of a talented writer which is why I allow myself these improprieties. No hard feelings, anyone.
Your logic is sound.
guess that kids getting noticed. a link to this was up on the blogger site.
I haven't found the part of the thread where Aaron asked for any advice.
I have other things to tell about, how a woman named Jane with a last name historically New Orleans, came into my life today initially to bid on building me a fence, got on a cell phone, which is a thing I had just been ruminating about needing but never wanting to own, and telling a white lie or two did a grey haired Jim Rockford and snuck some information from a complete stranger down at City Hall and found me to be neighbors with a Gambino. And then handed me the fluidly feminine cursivity of a former penmanship award winner which listed information crucial to a future goal, somewhat erasing a feeling of hopelessness that had overcome me and for which I would probably be medicated against did I exist on a different rung of the socioeconomic ladder and had insurance and had made nothing but different choices from my beginning. Hey, wouldn't "'Who wants to be medicated" be a good name for surreality game show?
Anyway, curiousity led me to hitchhike the infohway to see who I might have insulted--I don't enjoy being a shit although I certainly am sometimes, or frequently-- and I found that this Miss Dori Smith is somewhat of a talent, in the traditional sense, with a son about the age of this Aaron kid she was trying to school and although this "logic will set you free" argument is a warning flag of repression in my book, I guess It's pretty obvious my comments were antithetical to the point of Mr. McCusker's eloquent comments and show a maturity lesser than that of the offended fourteen-year-old Aaron Swartz, who by the way is not asking and probably does not need to be taken up for. Yet still I feel the verdant pastures of this kid's mind should not be paved over with the asphalt of condescension that we adults are so inclined to use in moments of frustration. "Listen to me kid, I've been there, life is hard, you've got to grow up and act this way or you'll be trampled to death by the reality that is all those idiots slowing down on the highway of your life hoping to see a moment inside someone else's tragedy that might give them the vicarious thrill that is either missing from their lives or for which they can feel greatful that--"That is not me, thank you God, I wonder if it'll be on TV tonite?"
But mostly I want to retract my inappropriate comments because life is hard at times and logic can be as good as God to some, and vice versa, and we who have neither at least have budweiser to get us through it.
She's getting married to a seemingly nice guy on my birthday next month for godssake.
Do any children listen to the advice of their elders?
Well, this is much later, but I guess that's one of the nice things about the system. Anyway, for those that remember this thread, here's Aaron Swartz.
|
I can see now that this post is going to be a little long, but there is a payoff.
Anyway, Wes posted this picture on March 28, and 8 minutes later Aaron Swartz posted this reply. What happened next was probably the most interesting discussion thread I've ever watched unfold (and watching is all I do on that board.) Aaron, evidently, is a very bright 14 year old computer geek. He is very articulate. Maybe you remember him as the author of this great article (explaning the "semantic web") that I linked to a week and a half ago. And that's just one of his interests. Another is a more quixotic quest to change the american educational system which he sees as basically bankrupt, full of busy work, and signifying nothing. (Of course this is all to put words in his mouth which is a dangerous thing, but I have to summarize somehow.) Anyway, the discussion thread on Hack the Planet turned into a beautiful/frightning back and forth between the very outspoken and unfearful Swartz, and a variety of much older, more jaded, but also highly intelligent and outspoken programmer types. It was clearly evident that many saw Aaron as youger versions of themselves: overly smart in a specifically technical sense that makes it difficult to fit inside a strict bureaucracy (be it a corporate job, or american high school.) Many had very kind encouraging things to say to him. Many had what I thought very wise advice for growing up feeling you are a little different. A few thought he should quit complaining and just swallow his medicine. That's the way it is with internet conversations. They can get a little heated. They can get a little nasty. This is part of what makes them so interesting. Some of the social regulations which govern face to face communications are stripped away, and you can really get at what people think. Sometimes it's not so nice. O.K., here's the payoff. My favorite person to read on the site is David McCusker. His personal site is here. What he does is so far beyond me that I couldn't begin to judge his competence, but I can tell how the other people treat him, and let's just say he carries some weight. When the thread began to get a little personal I started wondering if someone would step in, and David McCusker did. Here's his reply (hint: that's the payoff, go read that entire post.) I say we put this guy in charge. If only every person new to the internet, and this particular way of communicating, could be persuaded to read his post. I think he makes the world a better place.
- jim 4-09-2001 5:32 pm
i,m a slave to love
- Skinny 4-09-2001 6:29 pm
Thanks for the culling, great great stuff, and reading the responses to McCusker from Winer and others following your suggested link was good too. One of the responses posted a link to support his (Winer's) opinion that you can't disagree with a woman and get away with it. And since the esteemed Winer broke the ice with that bit of sexism I feel more comfortable to add mine, base on this "copy" of Dori's words--"Well, I'm now an official nasty bitch." I don't think so sweetness, you just another lonely soul needing to get laid. Maybe me and you should meet, if the sex wasn't to your liking, you could try to humiliate me so the evening wouldn't be a total waste. I don't really have the self control of a talented writer which is why I allow myself these improprieties. No hard feelings, anyone.
- jimlouis 4-09-2001 10:07 pm
Your logic is sound.
- steve 4-10-2001 4:32 pm
guess that kids getting noticed. a link to this was up on the blogger site.
- dave 4-10-2001 5:55 pm
I haven't found the part of the thread where Aaron asked for any advice.
- steve 4-10-2001 9:56 pm
I have other things to tell about, how a woman named Jane with a last name historically New Orleans, came into my life today initially to bid on building me a fence, got on a cell phone, which is a thing I had just been ruminating about needing but never wanting to own, and telling a white lie or two did a grey haired Jim Rockford and snuck some information from a complete stranger down at City Hall and found me to be neighbors with a Gambino. And then handed me the fluidly feminine cursivity of a former penmanship award winner which listed information crucial to a future goal, somewhat erasing a feeling of hopelessness that had overcome me and for which I would probably be medicated against did I exist on a different rung of the socioeconomic ladder and had insurance and had made nothing but different choices from my beginning. Hey, wouldn't "'Who wants to be medicated" be a good name for surreality game show?
Anyway, curiousity led me to hitchhike the infohway to see who I might have insulted--I don't enjoy being a shit although I certainly am sometimes, or frequently-- and I found that this Miss Dori Smith is somewhat of a talent, in the traditional sense, with a son about the age of this Aaron kid she was trying to school and although this "logic will set you free" argument is a warning flag of repression in my book, I guess It's pretty obvious my comments were antithetical to the point of Mr. McCusker's eloquent comments and show a maturity lesser than that of the offended fourteen-year-old Aaron Swartz, who by the way is not asking and probably does not need to be taken up for. Yet still I feel the verdant pastures of this kid's mind should not be paved over with the asphalt of condescension that we adults are so inclined to use in moments of frustration. "Listen to me kid, I've been there, life is hard, you've got to grow up and act this way or you'll be trampled to death by the reality that is all those idiots slowing down on the highway of your life hoping to see a moment inside someone else's tragedy that might give them the vicarious thrill that is either missing from their lives or for which they can feel greatful that--"That is not me, thank you God, I wonder if it'll be on TV tonite?"
But mostly I want to retract my inappropriate comments because life is hard at times and logic can be as good as God to some, and vice versa, and we who have neither at least have budweiser to get us through it.
She's getting married to a seemingly nice guy on my birthday next month for godssake.
- jimlouis 4-11-2001 3:31 am
Do any children listen to the advice of their elders?
- steve 4-16-2001 2:38 am
Well, this is much later, but I guess that's one of the nice things about the system. Anyway, for those that remember this thread, here's Aaron Swartz.
- jim 5-24-2001 4:08 am