/usr/share/doc/cfi-en/html/ch17web.htm is in cfi-en 3.0-10.
This file is owned by root:root, with mode 0o644.
The actual contents of the file can be viewed below.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 | <HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>
A CYBERNETIC UTOPIA
</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR="#c9e1fc" BACKGROUND="background.gif" LINK="#666666" ALINK="#ff0000" VLINK="#999999" LEFTMARGIN=24 TOPMARGIN=18>
<P ALIGN=CENTER><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><b><a href="ch16web.htm"><img src="arrowleft.gif" width="45" height="54" align="absmiddle" name="ch1web.htm" border="0"></a></b><font color="#999999" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+1"><a href="mainindex.htm">INDEX</a></font><b><font color="#999999">
</font><a href="otten.htm"><img src="arrowright.gif" width="45" height="54" align="absmiddle" border="0"></a></b></font></P>
<FONT SIZE=+2 FACE="Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#000000">
<H1 align="center"><B>Chapter 17<br>
A CYBERNETIC UTOPIA</B></H1>
</FONT>
<table width="620" border="0" align="center">
<tr>
<td>
<p><font face="Times New Roman"><b><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">In
an ideological</font></b><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> utopia,
one can discern a decentralized community with the perfect technology
for creating virtual reality, in which really only technology, communication,
the legal system, and food production has to be state regulated. (Everything
else can be synthesized in artificial reality). What the individual engages
in in his or her virtual reality - like electronic dreams - should be
protected from all governmental control. Perversions and aggressions can
be realized without putting other people in danger. Therefore, it is suggested
that people would become more harmonious creatures, with a mind free from
the oppressive norms of society, finding their way back to the <i>real</i>
values. (Whatever they may be). It's about disconnecting the individual
consciousness from the collective consciousness - for better and for worse.</font></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> In such a cyber-utopia, the
real reality and nature have lost their meaning, since you can experience
an artificial one that's much better. In a cyber-utopia, people are
driven by group fellowship to explore the world. Small interest groups
can research their areas and communicate over the networks. All boring,
dangerous and monotonous work is conducted by robots. <i>"Humankind
should concern itself with love, science, and art"</i>, to cite a
famous Swedish rock band. </font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">In a cyber-utopia, you can
meet people all over the world and still be at home, physically speaking.
Humanity is just a keystroke away. This utopia (like all others)
naturally has obvious drawbacks, but this is the way it is. (Myself, I
think it's horrible). For example, one could debate the wisdom of letting
pedophiles, for example, live out their dreams in a virtual reality. Totally
new political issues are raised in such a community: should we regulate
people's actions, or is it - terrible thought - actually their <i>thoughts</i>
that we want to regulate?</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">The cyberpunks want you to
be able to think and enact anything without harming others, and technology
might give us this possibility - but do we really want <i>everyone</i>
to be able to realize their fantasies, <i>even</i> if it doesn't harm
anyone? Several philosophers have pointed out the risk of living in a
society without stable norms. Is the repression of thought necessary to
protect humankind? Can technology aid us in finding those functions that
connect our individual consciousnesses with the collective by giving us
the opportunity to "disconnect"? Can today's outsiders find
their way into society with the assistance of technology?</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">People who <i>like</i> monotonous
work, who think that intellectual exercises are boring, or who would rather
engage in sports or hunting, wouldn't have a place in a cybernetic society.
On the other hand - if you had grown up in such a society - what's suggesting
that you would put any value on such trivial matters? A lot of our current
society would seem inhuman and despicable to a person originating in the
1700s.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> And as for the artificial
intelligence that has to exist in order to create this partially artificial
world we already live in - does <i>it</i> have any rights? Do we really
have the right to use artificial intelligences as slaves, as we currently
use social hierarchies to make other people work for us? Machines are
actually already part of the collective consciousness I call superindividuals
- they're already thinking along with us. The information age focuses
on these new ethical issues and forces us to consider them. </font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">If you're frightened by cyberpunk
and the information revolution, I'm afraid I'll have to say that they're
not so easy to stop. What you can do is learning more and helping to control
the development of society towards a desirable state. If you're passive,
you leave decision making up to others. Begin by <i>understanding</i>
that which you criticize, and only then can you start influencing things.
Reprimands and threats have very little effect on my generation. If someone
complains enough to bother us, we just switch the channel. (Zap!). Don't
think that we're not interested in your views, however. We listen - if
you know what you're talking about. The suggested literature section at
the end of this book is a good start if you want to learn more.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">One thing that radically distinguished
the information revolution from the industrial revolution is that many
people have been prepared and have had time to become learned in the ways
of technology. The development of society is <i>questioned</i> in broad
circles, and isn't left up to politicians and corporations. People in
general, and especially young people, question and critique. Hackers,
cyberpunks, ravers, and others are the most questioning - they want to
be part of creating their own future, and refuse to passively meld into
the pattern. They have optimism and a belief in the future, and they rush
to meet it. This youth movement is sometimes referred to as the <i>New
Edge</i>. These children of the information age don't see only threats,
but possibilities.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">I'm not a doomsayer, and this
is not a dark book. As wise as I am, I've saved the most important point
for last. There's been a lot of complaining lately. Many contemporary
philosophers have suggested that humankind has locked itself into a pattern
of progression, in which consumption has to constantly increase until
people just can't consume anymore. This is probably true. We will consume
more. Further, they think that this will lead to environmental decay and
global segregation, which will eradicate all of humanity. This, however,
probably isn't true. It's not true because those who speak in these
pessimistic terms have been incapable of noticing a very important contemporary
detail: the entrance of the information society. More precisely, the mistake
has been to presume that a constantly increased level of consumption necessarily
<i>requires</i> an increased consumption of natural resources. There is
no such relationship in the information society. (I might add that I'm
perhaps a little too optimistic in reference to the connection between
information society and environmental concerns; environmental problems
won't go away, but the continuing damage will decrease).</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">On the day I'm writing this,
Microsoft's new operating system, Windows 95, has been released with much
fanfare at the <i>Globe</i> in Stockholm. I have previously expressed
my negative attitude toward this company. Still, it makes me happy to
see that national media are reporting this massive marketing effort of
a product that ten years ago <i>no one</i> could even <i>imagine</i> would
be sold through galas at the Globe and on TV commercials. It would have
been <i>ridiculous</i>. Windows 95 is software, a pure information product.
Granted, you get some disks and a book when you buy the program, but those
are not the actual product. It's perfectly possible to buy Windows 95
without the books or the disks if you buy a new computer where the program
is pre-installed on the hard drive.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Thus, a product is being sold
which, compared to a car, required almost no natural resources to produce,
even though it cost thousands of hours of work to develop, and will cost
<i>billions</i> of hours to consume. When I sit down with this software
at home, wrestle with it, create with it and try to make it do my bidding
- during this time, I'm not driving a car. I don't consume anything, save
for a little electricity and maybe some coffee. I don't eat potato chips,
because I don't want the computer to get greasy. (Translator's note: Habits
vary. I drink <i>beer</i>, smoke <i>cigarettes</i>, and eat <i>pizza </i>in
front of my computer. The main difference is that I probably have to switch
keyboards more often.) I don't buy a lot of useless items from the shopping
channels on TV that I later just throw away. I basically consume nothing
but information. Not even a <i>book</i> is more environmentally friendly.
The same phenomenon occurs in most of the rest of the information society
- TV: an electronically transmitted product with low demands on natural
resources, Multimedia: also primarily an information product, Telephony:
an electrical signal from one place to another. Using virtual reality,
we can even consume everything we usually do, offroad a four-wheel Jeep,
and pilot a spaceship, with no notable wear on nature. There is hope.
There is a hell of a lot of hope, even though it's combined with new dangers.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">You can note that many of
today's products satisfy artificial needs. You could ask whether we ever
needed an operating system like Windows 95. Probably not. In a few years,
however, we do. This is really not that important - more needs than we
think are ultimately artificial. It's sort of like a premise for a market
economy. Your mind reels at the thought of security companies that hire
a team of hackers to build security systems for their customers, and then,
at night, make sure that the same hackers <i>"maintain market image"</i>.
Or virus hackers that work half the time on creating virus killing software,
and the other half on creating new viruses to create demand for the antivirus
tools. <i>Wouldn't you?</i> Of course you would. So what? The gears are
spinning, GNP goes up, everyone's happy. In the same way, we've created
a dependency on criminal activity, administrative tasks, etc. to no end
in this society. There are many such processes, whose only purpose is
self-perpetuation and self-justification. Does it matter? No, probably
not. It depends on whether or not you think humanity has a "purpose";
whether there is something we should strive towards. But that's philosophy.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">We have moved from material
bartering, with merchandise for merchandise, to an economy in which we
trade money for goods and goods for money. Now, we're starting an infonomy,
trading information for information without intermediary material transactions.
The danger that still lurks behind the scenes of our system is a desire
for power, in individuals at all levels: corporations, governments, and
organizations. They're after power over <i>you</i>. Make sure you don't
give up any of your freedom without first knowing what you get in exchange.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">I've reached the slightly
shocking conclusion that the mechanisms I previously identified as <i>superindividuals</i>,
i. e. superior intelligent entities, have no need to produce material
products or artifacts in order to control other intelligent entities.
Instead, they simply employ exchanges of symbolic information, chunks
of info transmitted through cables. Every such superindividual is characterized
by the creation of internal chinks of information, secret documents, transmitted
inside the individual outside the reach of the public or other superindividuals.
That's why corporations, governments, and other organizations are paranoid
about someone else reading their secrets, whether important or not. With
information technology, the possibility of creating such structures is
amplified by a factor of hundreds, and the exchange of information, the
thoughts of the superindividual, its intelligence, is expanding at the
speed of light. I've also discovered that the information-processing machines
are <i>part</i> of these superindividuals, not some accessory of people
to assist in their work. Somewhere around this point is where you have
to start thinking for yourself.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">If <i>you</i> have read <i>this</i>
book on a computer, without printing it out on paper, you've consumed
something. Or have you? Do I have to charge for this book before it can
be called consumption? I'll leave that as an open question. I've
certainly not made a dime from you reading this book, but maybe I've accomplished
something that can't be measured in terms of money - maybe I've taught
you to question the mechanisms of power. (Hmm… if this book ever
goes into print, I'll have to modify the above paragraph).</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Let me finish with a timeless
quote, from a man who belonged at the frontline of his generation:</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <i>"Come
mothers and fathers throughout the land<br>
and don't criticize what ya can't understand<br>
your sons and your daughters are beyond your command<br>
your old road is rapidly aging<br>
please get out of the new one if ya can't lend
your hand<br>
for the times they are a-changin'"<br>
<br>
</i><b>Bob Dylan</b>, September 1963.<br>
<br>
We are all part of the inevitable.<br>
<a href="mailto:triad@df.lth.se"><br>
Linus Walleij</a>, Lund, Sweden, September 5, 1995.<br>
Binary sculptor, harmless hobby hacker.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Translation by <a href="mailto:nirgendwo@c2i.net">Daniel
Arnrup</a>, Bergen, Norway, October 30, 1999.<br>
<br>
Thanks to: The libraries of Ljungby and Svalöv, the university libraries
of Lund and Linköping, Microbus i Ljungby AB, Gunnar Kålbäck,
Christian Lüddeckens, Motley, Tranziie, Mikael Jägerbrand, Ulf
Härnhammar, Marie Fredriksson, Christer Sturmark, Hans Roos, Erica
Larsson, Daniel Hellsson, Jucke, Chorus, Stellan Andersson, Anders Hellquist,
Anders R Olsson, Jesper Jansson, David Malmborg, Daniel Näslund,
Mikael Winterkvist, Per Jacobsson, Fredrik Schön and all the members
of the Triad and Fairlight hacking groups, without whose help this wouldn't
have been possible. Now I'm gonna sit down and finish my cyberpunk novel.
Maybe.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">And I refuse to say whether
the Dylan quote above was meant seriously or ironically.<br>
<br>
<b>Literature:<br>
</b>Scientific literature tends to consist of 70% of cross-references
to other works and other authors, which makes the whole thing difficult
and slow to read for an uninitiated reader. This is not a scientific text.
Possibly, it's popular science. Most of this text is written on the fly,
based on my own experience and knowledge. For those who would like to
read more, I'm listing a few books, publications, and such which have
served as a factual basis for the book.<br>
<br>
</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#0000a0"><b><font color="#000000">Barlow,
John Perry</font><i><font color="#000000">:</font></i></b></font><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><i>Selling
Wine Without Bottles</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#000000">An article
published in Wired about information and "intellectual property".
So initiating and well considered that I've referred to it as a "paradigm".</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#000000"><b>Burroughs,
William Seward:<i> </i></b><i>The Naked Lunch</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Burroughs' breakthrough, unfortunately
not as articulate a social critique as the subsequent <i>Nova Express</i>.
Counted as a milepost within the literary tradition of cut-up.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#0000a0"><b><font color="#000000">Burroughs,
William Seward:</font><i> </i></b></font><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><i>Nova
Express</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Run for your lives! The Nova
Mafia has sent agents to the Earth to enslave human thought patterns through
language, drugs and sex. Luckily, the Nova Police have sent out counteragents,
including Burroughs himself, to stop the invasion. In this cut-up sci-fi
novel, Burroughs develops the ideas form <i>The Naked Lunch</i> to an
astronomical perspective. By affording the reader a solid sense of paranoia,
he makes you question your surrounding reality. There's also a hint of
ironic humor underneath it all.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#0000a0"><b><i>Cornwall,
Hugo: </i></b></font><font color="#000080" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><b><i>Datatheft</i></b></font></p>
<p>H<font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">einemann Professional Publishing
Ltd, England, 1987.<br>
ISBN 0-7493-0217-8</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">One of the most in-depth books
ever written about computer security. Cornwall brings up many common security
flaws in computers and security systems in a general and broad perspective.
Hackers are only mentioned occasionally, and the book is heavy and rather
strictly scientific.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#0000a0"><b><font color="#000000">Cornwall,
Hugo:</font><i> </i></b><i><font color="#000000">H</font></i></font><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><i>acker's
Handbook III</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">This is a handbook for network
hackers. Nobody's learned to be a hacker by reading this book, but despite
this it's quite interesting, and a given best-seller among people who
think that the network hacking thing is the coolest thing around (i. e.,
wannabes). Additionally, the title seems "forbidden". However,
it is a well-written book that points out the most common security holes
in certain systems.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#000000"><b>Datormagazin</b></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> Yearly issues 1986-94</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <b><font color="#000000">Dick,
Philip K.:</font><i><font color="#003399"> </font></i></b></font><i><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">D</font></i><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><i>o
Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#0000a0"><b><font color="#000000">Forrester,
Tom & Morrison, Perry:</font><i> </i></b></font><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><i>Computer
Ethics</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Basil Blackwell Ltd, England,
1990<br>
ISBN 0-631-17242-4</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">One of the most interesting
books written about computers and computing society. Many examples are
based on English conditions, and uninteresting for Swedish readers. The
purely ethical issues around hacking, artificial intelligence, databases
etc. are fascinatingly treated.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#0000a0"><b><font color="#000000">Gibson,
William:</font><i> </i></b></font><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><i>Neuromancer</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> Harper Collins Science Fiction
& Fantasy, 1993<br>
ISBN 0-586-06645-4</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">If you're going to read any
cyberpunk literature at all, read this one. It's a classic which defines
the literary term of cyberpunk.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <b>Green, Jesper 69 &
Johansson, Sune: </b><i>Cyberworld</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Alfabeta Bokförlag AB
1994<br>
ISBN 91-7712-389-1</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Many reviewers trashed this
book when it came out. In some respects it was deserving of this, in others,
not. All examples from the book are drawn from a Danish perspective, which
may make it less interesting. On the other hand, the delusional predictions
of the future of the cyberpunk author, Green, is something not to miss.
There are many quotes from the Danish network hacker, Netrunner, and the
Kraftwerk member Ralf Hütter, which elevate the book.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <b>Hafner, Katie & Markoff,
John: </b><i>Cyberpunk - Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Corgi Books, England 1994<br>
ISBN 0-552-13963-7</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> This book contains biographies
of the most famous network hackers: Kevin Mitnick, Pengo, and Robert Tappan
Morris. It's written in a typically American fashion, with many irrelevant
details, and has the advantage of being relatively easy to read. You get
a good view of the hacker's life and mind.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <b>Harry, M: </b><i>The Computer
Underground</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> Loompanics Unlimited, Port
Townsend 1985<br>
ISBN 0-915179-31-8</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">One of the first books about
underground computer culture. Loompanics is one of those publishers that
print just about anything and doesn't censor content for being politically
incorrect. Among other things, they have wide range of Timothy Leary's
books.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#0000a0"><b><font color="#000000">Hofstadter,
Douglas R:</font><i> </i></b></font><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><i>Gödel,
Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Timeless classic and cult
book among all computer science students. A thick, heavy book which explains
why math is fun, and why the innermost essence of intelligence can be
captured in a machine. To top it off, it's written with a good dose of
distance and humor, with simple, easy-to-understand examples. People who
have recently read the book for the first time often speak of it in an
almost religious manner.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <b>Illegal </b>(edited by
<b>Jeff Smart</b>)</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> "22 - "37<br>
Germany, 1987-89</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Probably the only significant
European cracking zine. It's from this zine that cracking culture spread
across Europe, primarily Germany, and then to the rest of the world, and
it possibly for the first time defined the concept of "elite"
among European home computer enthusiasts.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><b>In Medias Res </b>(edited
by <b>Zike</b>), #1</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> Eskilstuna, Sweden, 1992</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">One of those surprisingly
well done and thorough little zines which many refer to, but was never
printed in a large run. And it's not in the national archives, either.
But I have a copy…</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <b>Kuhn, Thomas S: </b><i>The
Structure of Scientific Revolutions</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> Phoenix Books, USA1962</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <b>Kurzweil, Raymond: </b><i>The
Age of Intelligent Machines</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">This is an anthology of thoughts
around artificial intelligence. If you want to know what AI is, and consider
social and philosophical problems, then read this book. If you want to
know how AI works, then read Hofstadter's <i>Gödel Escher Bach: An
Eternal Golden Braid</i> (see above) instead. Hofstadter and <b>Sherry
Turkle</b> are also contributing writers in this book.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#0000a0"><b><font color="#000000">Landreth,
Bill:</font><i> </i></b></font><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><i>Out
of the Inner Circle</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">This is a classic among network
hackers. It's written by a renegade from the <i>Inner Circle</i> hacking
group, and it's pretty well-done. It has, however, lost some of its immediacy.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><b>Leary, Timothy: </b><i>Flashbacks
- A Personal and Cultural History of an Era</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> Tarcher / Putnam Books, New
York 1990<br>
ISBN 0-87477-497-7</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Tells of large parts of 60's
hippie history that has later been covered up or stigmatized. Leary was
feeling pretty good about life and society and himself when he wrote this
self-biography, and you get the impression that he is an incurable optimist.
He is a man of the arts, and well-read… obviously a dangerous enemy
to his opponents. Leary died in 1996, and ironically, the Harvard LSD
experiments that started his career have been resumed.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <b>Levy, Steven: </b><i>Hackers
- Heroes of the Computer Revolution</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Penguin books, England 1994
(first printed 1984)<br>
ISBN 0-14-023269-9</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">This is the best book ever
written about hackers. It concerns the first hackers at MIT in the 60's,
the home computer builder of the Altair, and the programmers at the Sierra
On-Line gaming company. The first two parts are the most interesting.
Read it.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#0000a0"><b><font color="#000000">Nietzsche,
Friedrich:</font><i> </i></b></font><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><i>Thus
Spake Zarathustra</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">It takes some courage to read
Nietzsche. If you expect to find a fascistic manifesto, you're reading
in vain. Those who can't get around Nietzsche's thinking will think that
the book is "strange", and won't understand what Zarathustra
is talking about. Zarathustra was a Persian philosopher, and Nietzsche
resurrects him in this book to "revise" the earlier teachings
of good and evil.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><b>Petiska, Eduard: </b><i>Golem</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><i><br>
</i>Martin publishing house, 1991<br>
ISBN 80-900129-2-2</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">This is the myth of Rabbi
Löw's Golem, created to protect the Jewish ghetto in Prague. I read
it as part of the research on the section about artificial intelligence,
and it doesn't have very much to do with the information society.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <b>Pondsmith, Mike</b> (ed.):
<i>Cyberpunk - The Roleplaying Game of the Dark Future</i> (Version 2.0.2.0)</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> R. Talsorian Games Incorporated,
California 1993<br>
ISBN 0-937-279-13-7</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">If you're not used to reading
role-playing games, this book will probably confuse you. Role-playing
game books contain little or no fictional material. At first glance it
looks like an encyclopaedia full of facts - except everything is made-up.
A role-playing game book contains descriptions of organizations, people,
machines, weapons, and everything between Heaven and Earth to assist the
players' imaginations. When you've read the book, the idea is to get together
and develop the story using the book as a reference for the world. The
result is something like a mix of authoring, theater, and boardgames.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#000000"><b>Rubin,
Jerry: </b></font><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><i>Do
It!</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">An instruction manual on how
to become a yippie. A very sociopathic book by one of the leaders of the
American yippie movement. On the cover page it says "Read this book
high", and that's about as good as it gets. If your tastes are a
bit morbid, you could see it as humor. Otherwise it's just plain horrible.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <b>Shea, Robert & Wilson,
Robert Anton: </b><i>Illuminatus!</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> Consists of three novels:
<i>The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple</i> and<i> Leviathan</i>.<br>
Dell Publishing, New York 1988 (1975)<br>
ISBN 0-440-53981-1</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> This book is mentioned in
several places of my text, among others in connection with the hacker
Karl Koch and the techno band KLF. It's also recommended as a suitable
read for hackers at the end of <i>The Jargon File</i> (see below). The
books are conspiracy theories about ourselves and our society, primarily
inspired by William S. Burroughs and Timothy Leary. They're cult books
in the US as well as Canada and the UK, and there's no good reason why
they haven't been translated into Swedish. Actually, there's one: they're
painfully politically incorrect. The narrative technique of these novels
has been adopted by <b>Douglas Adams</b>, among others.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <b>Sterling, Bruce: </b><i>The
Hacker Crackdown</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Bantam Books, USA 1992<br>
ISBN 0-553-08058-1</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">A book about hackers written
by a complete outsider. Sterling normally writes cyberpunk novels. The
book is available at no charge as a text file on the Internet via EFF.
The most exciting and creative chapters are those about the American Secret
Service and their fight against hacking and phreaking, and the story of
how EFF was created.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#000000"><b>Stoll,
Clifford: </b></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <i>The
Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">A much-discussed book in which
Stoll, with passion, recounts how he traced the hacker (Mattias Hess)
who broke into his computer system and used it as a springboard to search
for military secrets for the Warsaw Pact (the Russians, Reds or whatever
you want to call them).</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#000000"><b>Turkle,
Sherry: </b></font><font color="#000000" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><b>The
Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit</b></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Sherry touches upon sociological
and psychological aspects of the interplay between humans and computers.
She interviews children and hackers as well as computer scientists, and
draws conclusions about the computer community from a sociological standpoint.
Towards the end of the book she also ventures into artificial intelligence.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <b>Yourgrau, Palle: </b><i>The
Disappearance of Time - Kurt Gödel and the Idealistic Tradition in
Philosophy</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Cambridge university press
1991<br>
ISBN 0-521-41012-6</font></p>
<p> </p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <b><i>Electronic Documents
and Magazines</i>:<br>
<br>
40hex </b># 1-12</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> Phalcon / SKISM</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Pretty well-written, treats
most things related to virus manufacture and virus culture.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <b>Bausson, Stephane: </b><i>What
You Need to Know About Electronic Telecards</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">V. 1.12. Last Revised 05/18/95</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Described the inner workings
of Telia's phone cards. Very embarrassing for Telia, since they thought
this information was secret when I called and asked them. It's not.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <b>Brent, Doug: </b><i>Oral
knowledge, Typographic knowledge, Electronic knowledge: Speculations on
the history of ownership</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> (Article in EJournal #3 Vol
1, ISSN 1054-1055)</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">This is a very important article
which I used as a basis for the section on <i>cybernetic society vs. copyright</i>.
Brent is active at Calgary university, and shows with all clarity why
it's more difficult to own information in an information society.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <b>Drummond, Bill & Cauty,
Jimmy: </b><i>The Manual - How to Have a Number One the Easy Way</i></font></p>
<p>K<font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">LF Communications 1988</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">In case you were wondering:
it works. Everything in this book is completely true. Among those who
have tried Drummond and Cauty's recipes for hit singles, we find the Austrian
group Edelweis plus a hundred or so other artists who don't dare reveal
that they've just followed the instructions in this book. Even Swedish
talents like Denniz Pop or Pat Reiniz have, consciously or subconsciously,
managed to follow this manual point for point. If you want to know how
it's done, read this book. You need a certain distance to be able to grasp
the contents - it's a thorn in the side to the entire pop industry. Copies
of this book, and bootlegs of the same, are circulated under much hush-hush
among the amateurs of the music world. This is unnecessary, since someone's
"liberated" the text and put it on the Internet. KLF themselves
presumably don't care one whit about this.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><b>Gunzenbomz Pyro-Technologies
/ Chaos Industries: </b><i>The Terrorists Handbook</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Probably one or more printed
books from the beginning. This very text file created a great deal of
press attention when a couple of 15-year-olds got it off a BBS and showed
it to Expressen (a Swedish daily). Too bad Expressen didn't review the
book, because it has some comic value. I can't judge how useful or dangerous
the descriptions in the book are, but it's obvious that you have to be
a little crazy to even attempt to use the bomb recipes. And that's the
problem: many parents apparently think that their 15-year-old sons are
completely mad.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <b>Jammer, the & Jack
the Ripper</b> (pseud.): <i>The Official Phreaker's Manual V1.1</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> Last revised in 1987</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Describes most of the technique
and history of phreaking. Contains, among other things, the articles written
by Ron Rosenbaum about the phreakers John Draper (Cap'n Crunch) and Joe
Engrassia in Esquire in 1971.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <b>Raymond, Eric S: </b><i>The
Jargon File 3.2.0</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> Last revised on 03/21/95</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">This is the same as <i>The
Hacker's Dictionary</i>, only free an in electronic form. Unfortunately,
the text gives a somewhat disparaging view of anyone who is not a "real"
hacker, i.e. the intellectual elite at universities like MIT. This file
is regularly updates, and attempts to include international hacker culture,
which it hasn't been terribly successful with so far. The content is heavily
adapted to American phenomena.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><b>Reid, Elizabeth: </b><i>Cultural
Forms in Text-Based Realities</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> Cultural studies program
,Department of English, University of Melbourne, January 1994</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <b>Brotherhood of Warez</b>
# 1-4</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">One of the most entertaining
phreaker publications, it is published by the Brotherhood of Warez (BoW)
group. It's a constant mix of humor and seriousness, where it's hard to
discern real statements from sarcastic lies written by bored pirates.
If you like Generation X-humor, you'll probably like BoW. The leader of
the group, U4EA, was sentenced to jail after driving the Gray Areas magazine
crazy with rage. (I think - it could have been a sarcastic lie).</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#0000a0"><b><i><font color="#000000">Phrack</font>
</i></b></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">#1-48</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Infamous hacker/phreaker magazine
which plays a large role in Bruce Sterling's <i>The Hacker Crackdown</i>
(see above). Offers sensible as well as really sick opinions of the world
and telephony. Has had a string of editors throughout the years. The article
<i>The Conscience of a Hacker</i> in issue #7 is especially important.
I've written an article about Swedish hackers that was published in issue
#48 of this publication.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <b><i>Skyhigh</i></b> # 17</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> Camelot Productions 1995</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">An interesting article by
<b>The Mistress</b>/Angry regarding women and hackers.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <b><i>Surfpunk</i></b> #
103 and 105</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Cyberpunk magazine, full of
excerpts from Usenet newsgroups and various publications. Behind the paper
is a more militant group than the EFF, but with similar views on society.
They distribute heavily cyber-slanted opinions.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <b>Swedish Hackers Association
(SHA)</b> (ed.): <i>Annual Year Protocol #3 & #4</i></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Our favorite hackers' own
paper, SHA's insolent and somewhat arrogant "protocol" is a
refreshing breeze compared to the government's and the media's condemning
attitude towards the group. In these protocols, the SHA account for their
activities, and why and how they do what they do. Guest writers include
<b>Knight Lightning</b> from Legion of Doom, who was also one of the men
behind Phrack (see above). The English is of mixed quality - it is obvious
that Swedes wrote these "protocols". It's a required read for
anyone who wants to know what both sides have to say about the issues.<br>
<br>
All electronic documents are available from me directly, if not elsewhere.</font></p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p align="center"><font size="2" face="Times New Roman"><b><a href="ch16web.htm"><img src="arrowleft.gif" width="45" height="54" align="absmiddle" name="ch1web.htm" border="0"></a></b><font color="#999999" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+1"><a href="mainindex.htm">INDEX</a></font><b><font color="#999999">
</font><a href="ottoen.htm"><img src="arrowright.gif" width="45" height="54" align="absmiddle" border="0"></a></b></font></p>
<p align=center> </p>
<p align=center><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="1">Design and
formatting by <a href="mailto:nirgendwo@usa.net">Daniel Arnrup</a>/<a href="http://www.voodoosystems.nu">Voodoo
Systems</a></font></p>
<p>
</BODY>
</HTML>
|