I found this particular conversation on the early ARPANET a bit fascinating:
17 April 1976 – The transcript presented here records a conversation between four figures from the broad spectrum of culture: puppeteer Jim Henson; Russian-American writer, philosopher and playwright Ayn Rand; painter Sidney Nolan; and artist and musician Yoko Ono. A few months after the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War, The Agency’s tests with the ARPANET convened these four individuals, each with a distinct sense of, as well as the potential means for, a competing world-view. These individuals, who cross different hemispheres, were to help with considerations towards the viability of broadly implementing Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.* Please note that the respective computer terminals for each participant were identified by the names of gods from Roman mythology and have here been changed to reflect the actual names of the participants. The application, still in its early stage of development, had limited syntax capability, thus punctuation was limited to the full stop. Also, the original timestamps for each transmission have been removed for the sake of legibility.
* Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: (1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. (2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country. (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
Does anyone else think that Ms. Rand comes off as a bit of a douche?
"I came here for financial advice, but I've ended up with a bunch of shave soaps and apparently am about to start eating sardines. Not that I'm complaining, of course." -ZedThou
RE Ayn Rand, whatever you might think about her ideas and philosophy, on a personal level she has always struck me as an unpleasant person.
There are some people you would like to have a beer with, but for me Ayn Rand would NOT be one of them. In fact, I imagine that spending time around her would probably make me want to have several beers.
I do enjoy the boldness of her ideas, though.
Q: “Do you have funny shaped balloons?”
A: “Not unless round is funny.”
On the other hand, Jim Henson seems like a person that I would very much like to have a beer with...
"I came here for financial advice, but I've ended up with a bunch of shave soaps and apparently am about to start eating sardines. Not that I'm complaining, of course." -ZedThou
Storm wrote:
Does anyone else think that Ms. Rand comes off as a bit of a douche?
No, she comes off as a troll with a chip on her shoulder, which is a rather interesting observation to make about 1976 before discussion forums existed.
In fairness, intellectual types like Rand tend to stimulate debate by attacking or inflaming people or challenging assumptions.
In contrast to Rand's assertiveness, Henson will seem like a pussy aka Big Bird. The other two will play supporting roles in defending Big Bird.
I'm skeptical this chat was real. It's too hackneyed and stereotypical. But perhaps they were aware it was to be publicized and acted accordingly?
"All generous minds have a horror of what are commonly called 'Facts'. They are the brute beasts of the intellectual domain." -- Thomas Hobbes
Disclaimer: I am not a broker, dealer, investment advisor, physician, theologian or prophet. I should not be considered as legally permitted to render such advice!
Craig is right - I guess this is an art or media project and a hoax. I found this disclaimer on their site. The Rand character in particular seemed too charicature-like to be true.
"I came here for financial advice, but I've ended up with a bunch of shave soaps and apparently am about to start eating sardines. Not that I'm complaining, of course." -ZedThou
Related to this (in my opinion) is that we as a society put far too much stock into who is nice/popular/etc. and use this to decide whther to believe them, vote for etc. Assholes can have important and valid points and nice people can be swindling you literally, or just intellectually. THis point was driven home during medical training when I discovered that the irrascible attending really cared about his pts, and the nice guy boy scount type really was annoyed by his patients.
It was good being the party of Robin Hood. Until they morphed into the Sheriff of Nottingham
I read through the whole thing and fake Ayn Rand was the only one that didn't make me want to reach through my computer screen and strangle them. The rest seemed like whiney liberals.
LOL at Yoko "having other things to do."
What... like breaking up the Beatles?
"Now remember, when things look bad and it looks like you're not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean. 'Cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live nor win. That's just the way it is. "
