Year: 1996

Leaving The Meat Behind – Spam Included

Jyoti

Mar 10 1996, 9:00 am
Newsgroups: alt.geek
From: jyoti@innotts.co.uk (Jyoti Mishra)

As a lifelong Sci-Fi geek, I was wondering if any other geeks out
there had any views on future living? Not so much in the sense of AIs
but in the prospect of a posthuman future – a future not bound to the
meat imperatives that Eric seems to see as ‘weaknesses.’

Personally, I’d love to have it all. My sexuality has been the major
influence in the construction of my identity and I can’t imagine any
transcription of this self that ignored that part of me. But perhaps
the old ways are hobbling us in our journey further into vspace. Part
of the reason I love computing and the net is that (so far) it is such
a cerebrally-focused area. You can’t see, touch or smell me. Well,
maybe with Cu-See Me or Webphone etc but that side of the net is still
quite primitive. Maybe we’re in the net equivalent of the silent movie
era and the bandwidth-guzzling multimedia net apps are the talkies.

Also, the last time I looked, net growth was still exponential. Surely
this quantitative change will eventually translate into a qualitative
mutation? It might verge into chaotic growth, collapsing or exploding
according to its own internal dialectic. An old-timer like Green Star
(even though she’s 9 years younger than me ;-)) would say that it
already has in the way traffic has slowed down. Looking at all the
imbecilic spam around here, it’s easy to agree with her.

This is partly a rites-of-passage problem. As net access becomes less
and less technically challenging (thanks to those freebie CDs/disks)
more technically un-aware people come online. Now, we were all newbies
at one time and the majority quickly learn net culture after the
initial obligatory slips. The corollary of this is that there is the
5-10 percent minority who are dolts and cannot or will not adapt to
the new society around them. Spam is *their* product. A Tourette-like
spew they indulge in cos “it’s only computers – what does it matter if
I’m rude/crazy/irrelevant?” Hmmm. If bad karma could kill, these
knobheads would be wormfood.

Anyone else like to offer their comments?
love and kisses,
Jyoti

—–BEGIN GEEK CODE VERSION 3.1 BLOCK—–
GMU/SS/P d>!d s+:+++ a29 C++>C++++ U—@ P L- E? W+>W+++
N++ o K->K w+>w++++ O- !M V? PS++(+) PE– Y+ PGP- t++
5–(-) X+ R* tv b+(+++) DI– D G++>G+++++ e>e++ h—>h-
r++>r+++ y*(**)
——END GEEK CODE BLOCK——

Geeks And Their Gadgets

Jyoti

(Posted in alt.geek)

As there seemed to be so much god-bothering, I thought I’d try and start off a new thread. What’s your favourite gadgets? Here’s my top six (in order of memory, rather than importance):

1. My PC setup – P60, 16meg, 540hd, Motorola V.34, Canon BJC4000. Like Green Star, I love listening to my modem’s carrier tones – sweet harmonies. Nearly as nice as MTC code or SMPTE…..

2. My Music gear – Emax II, TR808, Moog Rogue, MC202, TR707, JX3P, Tascam 688, Sony DTC750DAT, Casio CZ101, Syquest SCSI 44mb (removable). I guess I’m most fond of my Moog. It’s pots may be scratchy but it was my *first* synth.

3. My Casio Data Bank Watch – This is the one item that gets me the most ‘Jesus, what a GEEK!’ stares. I love it! I store all my mate’s birthdays in it plus any phone numbers I need. Hey, sometime I might need to know the time in Honolulu 🙂

4. My Amstrad NC100 Notepad – second most likely to cause ‘eeoooww’-type attention. Especially since I take all my Uni notes on it now. My excuse is that I’ve got shitty handwriting but really I’m a total TECH-FETISHIST! Can be very sexy when I upload to my PC at the end of the week 🙂

5. My Car Stereo – 5 speakers, 100w amp in the back feeding two dual-concentrics plus a 12″ sub-woofer. The bass shakes my fillings when it’s going – especially if it’s Souls of Mischief or Channel Live. Had to disconnect it at the moment cos it was causing too much power-drain in the bleak English mid-winter 🙁

6. My Gameboy – Nuff said!

Well, what sets your fair hearts a-trembling? Anyone still got a soft spot for their old Big-Traks?
cheers,
Jyoti

Noam Chomsky on The Big Idea -BBC2, 23.15, 14/2/96

Jyoti

Well, I watched it tonight and it was amazing.

Did Andrew Marr do *any* preparation before this sad excuse for an interview? Did he even watch the Chomsky video he included clips from? I kept having to remind myself that this was a *professional* reporter from the Independent and not some snivelling public-schoolboy. “Oh Mr Chomsky! We’ve got a FREE PRESS in Britain!”

“I read all about the NAFTA agreement!” He couldn’t have : nothing of political substance was ever published, as Chomsky said. And of course that perennial corker: if the press is so propagandist what about (indignant stare) WATERGATE!

He couldn’t even grasp the basic point that anti-sleaze campaigns in the press *serve* the interests of the dominant élites. Obviously any concepts of hegemony and/or popular myths (or should I say necessary illusions 🙂 ) were beyond him. I expect he truly believes the British press is one big meritocratic, staunchly objective gang of heroic investigators…

Andrew Marr is a living breathing example of Chomsky’s propaganda model in action. The fact that he regards neo-Keynesianism as “left-of-center” shows precisely the limits of the discourse in which he is engaged and defines.

I am so tired of un-prepared, un-intelligent interviewers equating propaganda with totalitarianism. And then throwing their faulty logic in Chomsky’s face as if they’ve disproved his theory in one brilliant leap. After all, the basic notions of concision and the agenda-setting media aren’t that esoteric, are they?

Although Chomsky himself was on good form and as patient and precise as usual, the continual stupidity of the interviewer ruined the program.

I wish I could see a serious interview, like the one Peter Jay did in the 70s for LWT.
Yours in desperation,
Jyoti