The Great Geek Manual

Death is not a metaphysical problem anymore. It is a scientific problem, and it should be solved as soon as possible.

- Giovanni Santostasi on the Singularity email list.
Quoted in “AIs, Superflies, and the Path to Immortality” by Ben Goertzel, August 10, 2010.

Computer networks, paradoxically enough, are a deeply feminizing influence on society, where, in hardware, the unconscious is actually being created. It’s as though we took the Platonic bon mot about how “if God did not exist, Man would invent him”, and say “if the unconscious does not exist, humanity will invent it” — in the form of these vast networks able to transfer and transform information. This is in fact what we are caught up in, is a transforming of information. We have not physically changed in the last 40,000 years; the human type was established at the end of the last glaciation. But change, which was previously operable in the biological realm, is now operable in the realm of culture.

- “Psychedelic Society” by Terence McKenna, 1984.

A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.

- “Why Read the Classics?” by Italo Calvino, June 28, 1981.

Through technology, we hold the reins to our own evolution. For the first time in history, it might be said that there are moral implications in the act of evolution. The Internet is an extension of our senses and our minds, and its progress is propelled by our own creative and intellectual efforts. The future of the Internet will be shaped by millions of choices and decisions by people from all walks of life. Designers and programmers like us have the advantage of technical skill and specialized knowledge. Given the increasing presence of the Internet in our lives, our choices can have deep reverberations in human society. We’ll face small choices like what color to use for a button and larger choices like which platforms to endorse and which clients to support with our work. But the real questions form broad patterns behind every media trend and every mini technological revolution. Can we use technology to develop solutions to environmental problems — or will we abandon the natural world in favor of a digital one and the ‘web of things’? Have we fully considered what it means to merge biology and technology? And finally, do we really need a digital tracking device on our coffee machines? What a thrilling time to be alive! Let’s proceed with great enthusiasm and a commitment to designing a future that is meaningful, peaceful, and staggeringly exciting.

- The Future of the Internet by Dan Redding.
First published in Smashing Magazine, August 11, 2010.

When we hold each other, in the darkness, it doesn’t make the darkness go away. The bad things are still out there. The nightmares still walking. When we hold each other we feel not safe, but better. “It’s all right” we whisper, “I’m here, I love you.” and we lie: “I’ll never leave you.” For just a moment or two the darkness doesn’t seem so bad.

- Midnight Days by Neil Gaiman, January 1, 2000.

Build a man a fire, and he’ll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he’ll be warm for the rest of his life.

- Terry Pratchett

We must get our hearts broken sometimes. This is a good sign, having a broken heart. It means we have tried for something.

- Eat, pray, love: one woman’s search for everything across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert, 2006.

The syntactical nature of reality, the real secret of magic, is that the world is made of words. And if you know the words that the world is made of, you can make of it whatever you wish.

- “Alien Dreamtime” a multimedia event recorded live by Terence McKenna, February 27, 1993.