"Rushkoff, Douglas - Cyberia" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rushkoff Douglas)

high. And even more than that, people who don't use the drugs are outraged because of the
invasion of privacy. They just feel like it's an infringement on civil liberties. And I think
they're right. I have a friend who applied simultaneously at Sun Micro Systems and Xerox
Park, Palo Alto Research Center. And he found out--and he's someone who uses drugs--he
found out that Xerox Park was gonna do a urine test so he dried out and he went in and did
the urine test and passed and then they offered him the job, and he said, `I'm not taking the
job because you people do urine testing and I'm morally opposed to it,' and he went to work
for Sun. Sun does not do urine testing. They're very big on not doing it. I think it's great.''
Not surprisingly, Sun Micro Systems' computers run some of the most advanced
fractal graphics programs, and Intel--which is also quite Deadhead-friendly,'' is an industry
leader in experimental technologies like virtual reality. The companies that lead in the Valley
of the Nerds are the ones that recognize the popularity of psychedelics among their
employees. Still, although they have contributed to or perhaps even created the computer
revolution, psychedelics-using cyberians feel like a persecuted sect in an oppressive ancient
society that cannot see its own superstitious paranoia. As an engineer at a Microsoft research
facility complains, drug testing makes her feel like the "target victim of an ancient voodoo
spell.''
From the cyberian perspective, that's exactly what's going on; so computer
programmers must learn not to give any hair or bodily fluids to their employers. The
confiscated parts are being analyzed in scientific rituals'' that look into the employee's past
and determine whether she has engaged in her own rituals--like smoking pot--that have been
deemed heretical by the dominating religious body. In this case, that dominating body is the
defense industry, and the heretics are pot smokers and psychedelics users, who have
demonstrated a propensity to question the justifiability of the war machine.

CHAPTER 3
The Global Electronic Village

Persecution of psychedelics users has fostered the development of a cyberian computer
subculture. De Groot is a model citizen of the cyber community and dedicates his time,
money, and equipment to fostering the Global Electronic Village.'' One system he developed,
which takes up almost half his apartment, is an interface between a ham radio and a
computer.
He eats an ice cream from the shop downstairs as he explains how his intention in
building the interface was to provide ham radio operators with access to the electronic mail
services of UNIX systems to other sites on the Internet. My terminal is up twenty-four hours
a day. It was never done before, it was fun to do, it gave me the ability to learn about
electronic mail, and it provided a service.'' No profit? "You could make money off of it, I
suppose, but my specific concern was to advance the state of the radio art.''
It's hard to keep in mind that young men like de Groot are not just exploring the
datasphere but actively creating the networks that make it up. This is not just a hobby or
weekend pastime; this is the construction of the future.
De Groot views technology as a way to spread the notion of interconnectedness. We
don't have the same distance between us anymore. Camcorders have changed everything.
Whenever something happens in the world, chances are that someone's around with a
camcorder to tape it. We're all neighbors in a little village, as it were.'' Even de Groot's more
professional endeavors have been geared toward making computers more accessible to the
community at large. The success of the cyberian paradigm is dependent on regular people
learning to work with the technologies developed by vanguard, countercultural entrepreneurs
and designers.