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From: [email protected] (sweet Poly)
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk
Subject: Re: From Sourcerer In His Convalescence
Date: 30 Aug 1995 05:09:21 GMT
Organization: The Rancho Deluxe
Lines: 111
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
References: <[email protected]> <[email protected]> <[email protected]>
NNTP-Posting-Host: stripe.colorado.edu

In article <[email protected]>,
Kevin O' Gorman wrote:
>Sourcerer writes:


>I mean people who will be / are being forced to fight tooth and nail, for a
>foothold in cities under constant electronic surveillance. where water and
>power are strictly controlled, where hacking will be a method of survival rather
>than an illegal hobby.

Considering the sorry state of the infrastructure of american cities, I'm
not so sure the danger to the water/power supply will come so much from
'strict controll' as from sheer neglect. East St. Louis comes to mind...


>The fiction isn't being written, to a large extent it's being lived.
>I'm just waiting for the next BIG Sundevil type thingy...
>
>>The Missa Lusorum. The rite of passage that culls the herd...make
>>weapons of your imperfections.
>
>Slogans are for .sigs.

This (the above line), would make a great .sig.

And rites of passage are out-dated. Life is tending
>toward a continual rite of passage.

I think I understand what you mean here, Spidey. The rate of change is
certainly gaining momentum, and it seems anymore that every day brings new
and novel situations and challenges to bear upon our consciousness.
However, I think it is still possible to perceive that your life passes
through "stages", and for the sake of your humanity, it is important to
note the way-markers somehow. Even if it's just privately, performing
your own rituals to try to make sense of your life as you zoom through it.
Trying to make sense out of your life is not a fashion, like corsets --
now hopelessly outdated in these modern times.

If we are to continue this discussion, it might be useful to try to
clarify what we mean by "rite of passage". I've always considered them to
be events in one's life that divided it into "before" and "after",
generally to mark the stages towards maturity. Killing your first lion
with one spear, alone and unaided. A celebration of the onset of menses.
Losing your virginity... The particulars of human living have changed
considerably, but we still get born, live a bit, and then die...


>Maturity as I see it is first learning not to be afraid of imaginary monsters,

With you so far...

>and then not to notice the real ones.

...but lose you here. Maybe it's the way I'm reading "not notice". Is
it not more mature to stare the real monsters full in the face, and not
flinch or run away? Because there may be people depending on you, or
because you owe it to yourself? Or do you mean "not notice" as in noting
the existence of the monsters, but not letting them bother you or
interfere with what's important to you? Ignoring them...

It's constructing an aura of
>rosy pinkness around oneself through which to view the world.

Surely you must mean this sarcastically? Maturity is seeing the world
through "rose tinted glasses"? I don't think so.

>>>cyberpunk, in the spirit of their age, should hold their own life cheaply?
>
>>Why is that? Without that life you can't explore the worlds of the
>>imagination.
>
>Without a proper disregard for it, you'll not get very far in the exploration,
>before your fear ties you down. But that wasn;t even the sense I meant that
>in.

This is a little unclear, above, but I'm interested in it. I would like
to hear you more on why a "proper disregard" for life is necessary for
exploration, or to keep fear at bay.

I've been active in technical rock and ice climbing for 20 years (god,
no wonder my fingers ache! ). I have never been injured, but I have
been within a heartbeat of dying more than once, and those moments are
etched in my memory so sharply I can *smell* them. I am maybe alive
today because I had a high enough regard for my life that I *was* afraid,
and that fear helped me focus enough that I didn't fuck up and die,
pulling my partner off with me. It is true that Fear is the First Enemy,
and keeps most people from fully exploring the richness of the
possibilities in their lives -- but I can't agree with you that it is
"proper" to disregard one's life (if that is indeed what you're saying),
as if it's an aesthetic ideal. Acting with full knowledge of the absolute
reality of your personal mortality is the only way to be fully alive.
Any act not performed with that knowledge is an indulgence... immature...
"The meaning of life is that it ends." -- Kafka.

>I'll try to answer the last half of this tomorrow. Percy my companion is nagging
>me because we have to go see some bands 'n' drink Blackthorn on tap.

Well, have a good time. You should be in fine form for talking about the
meaning of Life in the morning. @:)

C
T-A Sweet Poly-Nucleotide
C---G
A---T "There are only three sports:
C-G mountain climbing, bullfighting, and motor racing -
G all others being games." -- Hemingway
G-C
G---C

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