Bruce Sterling's Blog, page 661

Armchair Revolutionary, the, uh, activist game

*You never know if these participatory crowdsourced schemes will catch fire or not, but that's a heck of a logo, anyhow. And, they're getting some press traction.

https://www.armrev.org/

Dead Media Beat: Italian computer museum in Palermo

*Some nice pics of the aging trophies there.

http://palermo.repubblica.it/cronaca/2010/04/09/foto/in_sicilia_il_museo_dei_vecchi_computer-3230152/14/

Dead Media Beat: the Commodore 64 as an iPhone app

*The word "sarcophagus" means "flesh eater."

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/c64/id305504539?mt=8

Design for the First World by public-spirited third-world designers

*Aw man, this development is just great. I've been waiting ages for this to happen. Look at that design jury:

http://designforthefirstworld.com/jury/

"Our fellows in the first world often come to visit and give us their well intentioned but often very problematic "solutions". We thought, why don't we pay back? Dx1W is a competition for designers, artists, scientists, makers and thinkers in developing countries to provide solutions for First World problems."

"Design for the First World...

Jaron Lanier at EDGE

*He's commenting on that Morozov-Shirky discussion, but there is so much of interest going on here that I must quote him.

http://www.edge.org/discourse/digitalpower.html

(…)

"The basic problem is that web 2.0 tools are not supportive of democracy by design. They are tools designed to gather spy-agency-like data in a seductive way, first and foremost, but as a side effect they tend to provide software support for mob-like phenomena. There are some nice mob effects, but the intensity of the...

The World's First Ever Web Conference for Magicians

*You heard it here first, ladies and gentlemen.

http://mnw.squarespace.com/magicnewsfeed/2010/3/23/this-week-in-magic-emc-2010.html

Hi, he says, This is where the Russians planned to conduct World War Three

*I can believe it, because I've seen a place where the USA planned to conduct World War III, and it was a similar rattletrap hole in the ground.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,687920,00.html

In the favela, you have to start somewhere

"My policing is done on foot," said Captain Rosana Alves dos Santos, head of the area's 140-strong pacification unit, as she toured the slum with her Taurus pistol strapped firmly into its holster.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/12/rio-de-janeiro-police-occupy-slums

Digital Power and Its Discontents

*Great to see Shirky and Morozov having a civilized and productive discussion here.

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/morozov_shirky10/morozov_shirky10_index.html

*I take John Brockman's point that it would be great to see these important matters tackle by a host of accredited thinkers — but I don't know what the academy would say before these phenomena vaporize. By the time you can figure out whether Twitter is "good for" Kazakhstan or not, there may be no Kazakhstan and/or no Twitter.

*Also...

Unfortunately, Raj Patel is not God.

*Nice and public-spirited of ol' Raj to let on to the rest of us.

News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo

http://www.anarkismo.net/article/16303

We Don't Need a Messiah (And Anyway, It Isn't Me)

Monday April 12, 2010 09:57

by Raj Patel

Coincidence led to my being hailed as a prince of peace. But change will

come from our own hard work, not a deity

The much arrested activist writer and Abahlali based Mjondolo member Raj

Patel on why he is NOT the messiah.

Firstb...