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John Perry Barlow has died

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Re: John Perry Barlow has died

#21

Post by wavefunction »

irrational wrote: post #16
Dangeranger wrote: post #11

A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace by John Perry Barlow Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather. We have no elected government, nor are we likely to have one, so I address you with no greater…

Wow, that's one of the most idealistic statements I've ever read. Too bad we ended up with the WWW of today instead.

It was a heady time back then. Lots of optimism and dreams.

Technology has improved in sophistication and accessibility but I agree that bright spirit has been muted over the years.

Re: John Perry Barlow has died

#22

Post by sillysaurus3 »

allworknoplay wrote: post #3

If Barlow doesn't deserve the HN black bar, I don't know who does. He fought for electronic freedoms tirelessly for decades, fending off companies who wanted to control the Internet or individuals' rights to hack technology they own.

It was never established what the HN black bar means. It may simply mean "This person was close to someone who runs HN."

Re: John Perry Barlow has died

#23

Post by igravious »

JDW1023 wrote: post #8
pixelmonkey wrote: post #7

Here's a link to his "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" from 1996, published 22 years ago tomorrow: https://www.eff.org/cyberspace-independence I always loved these bits: "Cyberspace consists of transactions, relationships, and thought itself, arrayed like a standing wave in the web of our communications." And: "Your increasingly obsolete information industries would perpetuate themselves by proposing…

Recording of John Perry Barlow reading his "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace": https://vimeo.com/111576518

Thank you very much for the link.

Re: John Perry Barlow has died

#24

Post by toomuchtodo »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #22
allworknoplay wrote: post #3

If Barlow doesn't deserve the HN black bar, I don't know who does. He fought for electronic freedoms tirelessly for decades, fending off companies who wanted to control the Internet or individuals' rights to hack technology they own.

It was never established what the HN black bar means. It may simply mean "This person was close to someone who runs HN."

I had always interpreted it to represent the loss and respect of prominent tech and computer science individuals, but would be interested in what the “official” stance is.

I thought I had an email from Dan that would answer this when I requested the black bar for someone, but that email seems to be gone when I search for it.

Re: John Perry Barlow has died

#25

Post by jxramos »

schoen wrote: post #15
paul7986 wrote: post #4

Never heard of the guy until 2005 where CNET interviewed him about his interest in skype. Thus me and my friend downloaded Skype and called him. We chatted for five or ten minutes and he remained on my friends Skype since. Later found out he was in the Grateful Dead in same shape or form.

Barlow once recounted a time that a random person in Vietnam called him on Skype because she wanted to practice English and he was named "John": https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/26/technology/internet-calli... You can find the whole thing (which is kind of amazing) at https://archive.li/jHN8B (search for "The Intimate Planet").

Very pleasant read, something nostalgic about this old style blog. Made me think of the days I'd spend chatting and voice messaging folks from MSN and yahoo chatrooms and all the friends I've made there who I've lost touch with.

Re: John Perry Barlow has died

#30

Post by nkurz »

staunch wrote: post #13

His Principles for Adult Behavior is hard-earned wisdom: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1kgmes/i_am_john_perr...

Wow. And succinct enough that I’ll quote them in full:

ADULT PRINCIPLES -John Perry Barlow

1 Be patient. No matter what.

2 Don't badmouth: Assign responsibility, not blame. Say nothing of another you wouldn't say to him.

3 Never assume the motives of others are, to them, less noble than yours are to you.

4 Expand your sense of the possible.

5 Don't trouble yourself with matters you truly cannot change.

6 Don't ask more of others than you can deliver yourself.

7 Tolerate ambiguity.

8 Laugh at yourself frequently.

9 Concern yourself with what is right rather than who is right.

10 Try not to forget that, no matter how certain, you might be wrong.

11 Give up blood sports.

12 Remember that your life belongs to others as well. Don't risk it frivolously.

13 Never lie to anyone for any reason. (Lies of omission are sometimes exempt.)

14 Learn the needs of those around you and respect them.

15 Avoid the pursuit of happiness. Seek to define your mission and pursue that.

16 Reduce your use of the first personal pronoun.

17 Praise at least as often as you disparage.

18 Admit your errors freely and quickly.

19 Become less suspicious of joy.

20 Understand humility.

21 Remember that love forgives everything.

22 Foster dignity.

23 Live memorably.

24 Love yourself.

25 Endure.

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