Notes for the Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul - Rudy Rucker

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Notes for The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul, by Rudy Rucker Caption for Photo with Nick Herbert Yes, I’m wearing lipstick. It was just to look weird for the parade. Rant at Start of Chapter on Society I write this book during a dark time. America’s government is in the hands of a ruthless antidemocratic elite. But history is not about politicians. A baby filling a diaper is infinitely more significant than a congress placing a movement on the floor. Joy of Hacking Coding a simulation forces a programmer to ponder unexpectedly many issues. God is in the details. One might go so far as to assert that a person doesn’t fully understand something until they’ve written a simulation of it ⎯ a precept which has the perhaps too übergeekly corollary that non-programmers don’t fully understand anything! Peace March Safety Example of Enjoying a Crowd During the Vietnam War, and again during the second Iraqi War, the only times I felt truly safe from my nation’s government was when I was part of a protest march. Games and Flocking I think it’s a shame that online massively multiplayer computer games don’t presently take into account the joy of flocking. In all too many games, the only interaction you have with people is to attack them with a weapon, to run away from them, or, at best, to share a ride in a vehicle. Games are more interesting and humane if a player has to dance with or walk around with the other characters ⎯ instead of simply killing them. Sports games are something of an exception, with, for instance, open field running in a football game being a nice example of crowd-motion play. Self Reference (I’d inserted this remark in the middle of my discussion of hive mind consciousness) Here the discussion becomes more class four, more a matter of me making things up as I go along. I Want More Influence Yes, I’ve had some slight effect upon my hive by voting in elections, by discussing my opinions with people, by raising children, by teaching classes, and by publishing books. I should be satisfied with this, but at times I’m not. *** I only harp on the problem of geezerly obsession with the national hive mind because I can see my own tendencies in this direction ⎯ and I’m sure you can, too, given that I’ve been not-so-subtly criticizing our media for couple of pages now. Ain’t it awful? p. 82
Notes for The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul, by Rudy Rucker Twin Towers Four Facts: The twin towers fell. The terrorists were Saudis. Bush invaded Iraq. Most people feel Bush made a wrong decision. “Ah,” someone might say, “if nobody wanted to fight, we’d be invaded. Look at the twin towers. The world’s not safe.” And I would submit that the administration’s reaction to the twin towers was exactly the wrong one. Instead of jumping into the repetitive tit-for-tat class two Israelis-versus-Palestinians mode, the government should have gone class four. What would make men kill themselves while destroying a part of our lovely New York City? What system produced them? Isn’t there a way to get in and jolt it in some totally unexpected way, something more original than rocket fire vs. car bombs? Emigration Before virtually every American presidential election, I’ve heard people say, “If so and so wins, I’m leaving the country.” But they never do. The only time my friends ever emigrated was during the Viet Nam war, a time when the hive mind was undertaking the wholesale slaughter of a generation. But most of the time, for most of us, things aren’t bad enough to make emigration seem reasonable. If national elections were to be stolen over and over again, the answer might be armed revolution, not emigration. At some point, a significant number of people might feel compelled to go to D.C. and fight in the streets until the regime were to be deposed. However long it took them, however dearly it cost. Artificial Life Machines will never be alive ⎯ because they aren’t born with cunt juice on them. The multiversal web. The parallel worlds of the quantum multiverse are in many senses the same as web pages. Can I use the web as a model for the universe itself? I’m a Rebel I’m congenitally rebellious, prone to opposing every form of group opinion. Seeds for this attitude would be that I grew up as a younger brother, that I was youngest and most intelligent boy in my grade school classes, that I barely escaped being sent to die in the government’s war in Vietnam, and that for many years I was a pot-smoker and thus a criminal. My feeling is that essentially everything in the newspapers or in the history books is a trick, a lie, and not really worth talking about. The survival strategy of some elements of society consists of a two-step process: • Frighten people. • Sell them protection. p. 83
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Notes for the Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul - Rudy Rucker

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