Because of what Teddy said, I’m going to leave this here. What I sent to Bolas:

I feel like part of the goodness of this program comes from the fact that it’s impossible to know what you’re in for when you join up. As long as you have no idea what you’re going to get out of it, you’re doing it right (in a way). We need to have more questions than answers. Considering a definition of the program as an important thing kind of ruins that, because we give people the chance to have a big expectation when they arrive. But maybe that’s just a cop-out or an easy thought to have in response to a hard problem.

Also, I still don’t get why media stops becoming media just because we depend on it so much. Isn’t that an inevitability, that our technology (term used loosely) should become so great and raise us so far that we eventually can’t see the floor while we stand on it? A respirator doesn’t stop being medicine when you can’t breathe without it, it’s always an aid to a better (or just existent) life. Sure, it’s mind-blowing that cell phones (as an example) are more important now than they ever were before, and we’ve crossed a line with that tech that wasn’t even defined before, but I like to think that we’ll keep doing that. It’s still not part of the body that we were born with, and therefore it’s still media and not us purely. It’s still an extension of our physical being, but not part of our physical being. It’s a part of our reality, but then again everything we perceive/use is.

The model of StartEngine is EXACTLY like what Cory Doctorow describes in his novel ”Makers”. A business in the business of businesses. Weird. http://craphound.com/?p=2371

But it’s not midnight yet!

Yeah, and we’re encouraged to do that via the backchannel, I think.

Also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerkes%E2%80%93Dodson_law

Reading recommended by MJ: http://anticlockwise.com/dani/personal/biz/whyplay.htm

So true Teddy!! Do you think it’s because it feels like losing, or because people assume you’re going to get in their way if you become in front of them? Or another reason?

My favorite part of cruise control is listening to the engine respond to the environment. The car starts to slow down on a hill, and just when you start think it can’t handle the incline grade, it kicks it up a notch and you can watch the dial change. It makes me feel like I’m in a big metal magic carpet!

Apparently SIGGRAPH is happening in LA next year. Convenient! http://s2012.siggraph.org/

Bill Gaver – History Tablecloth dude.

Come on, Anna! Seize the day! However, I also vote Nate should do it.

@Lotko Thanks for that link!

Ernest Becker

Schedule:
http://interactive.usc.edu/2011/09/16/imd-forum-fall-2011-schedule/

For usernames to just be the last name, I mean.