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From: ken@ihuxq.UUCP (ken perlow)
Newsgroups: net.misc,net.philosophy
Subject: Whither are we drifting?
Message-ID: <939@ihuxq.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 17-May-84 03:46:56 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihuxq.939
Posted: Thu May 17 03:46:56 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 18-May-84 00:46:25 EDT
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 35

--
The rather consistent opinion about Tim Maroney and the net--
net use is a right, not a privilege, and he broke the rules, so he's
just a cry-baby--makes me wonder about this fixation so many
high-tech types have with order, apparently for its own sake.
Yes, Tim did get what was coming to him.  So too, and for much the
same reasons of flouting privilege, did Galileo.  Is this justice?

There are rules, and not only don't you break them, you don't question
them either.  The "if you don't like it, go someplace else" argument
is thus another popular netlandism.  And indeed, most people engaged in
intricate technology have very traditional lifestyles.  Why?

The other side of this question is:
Why have recent movements for social and political change in America
consistently failed to attract followers with technological expertise?

Let me anticipate a few counter-examples.  Although much more in the
30's than recently, the Communist Party has attracted scientists.
And there is a sort-of commune, "The Farm" in Tennessee, which is very
technically advanced.  (Indeed, they made a bundle on an idiot's guide
to CB radio.)  Both organizations (honest, no comparison really intended)
however, adopted extremely traditional lifestyles.  Hierarchical,
sexist, very neat and organized--here's your job, go do it.

So I've been on both sides of the tribal-technological fence, and I've
felt like an alien either way.  As Gertrude Stein said (reportedly her
last words), "What's the answer?  On the other hand, what's the question?"
-- 
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JE MAINTIENDRAI   ***** *****
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