Pynchon's relevance to the X/Y-generation

[Julian Munro]

Pynchon: patron saint of Wibos?

Jason Gull writes [my emboldening]:

    "First off, I have to agree with those who've already chimed in to
    say that "less is more." The idea of warchalking seems to have grown
    in large part from a desire to know (merely by sight, sans gadgets)
    when one is in the presence of a wifi node. Of course, actually to
    use the node may require more information than simply the knowledge
    that "THERE IS WIFI HERE." But the gadgets themselves can figure out
    this extra information for themselves (for example, as was pointed
    out by others, by using "any" SSID, or by looking up the node in a
    database like GAWD, or by gleaning info via wifi from the node
    itself). Warchalking is fascinating not only for its utility, but
    also (and perhaps even more so) for its simplicity, its mystery, and
    its aesthetics.

    While it is a meme that has spread across the net faster than a
    Colorado fire, and bloggers and business have been evangelizing wifi
    at ever-increasing volume for a couple years, the ommunity of
    wifi-ers remains quite small -- while the number of access points
    may have broken a million, the number of folks who actually have
    used a node other than their own is a far smaller number. It just
    seems right to have wifi graffiti (I can't decide if the term
    "wifiti" is just too cute) that is simple and easy to scrawl, with
    as few alphanumerics as possible. Practical considerations aside (If
    one is using actually *chalk*, those tiny characters will be awfully
    hard to read) it lends the necessary degree of mystery to the
    emerging cult of warchalkers.

    Which brings me to my nomination for the Patron Saint of Warchalkers:
    Thomas Pynchon. The prescient Mr. Pynchon's "Crying of Lot 49"
    described similar cryptic scribbles by members of a secret
    underground postal system, long before the rise of the net.
    (Published 3 years before the traditional 1969 birthday of the net.)
    Alas, I'm not sure if the trystero would work for wifiti, but it
    certainly would add an air mystery (and literary history) to the
    endeavor."
    <http://www.blackbeltjones.com/warchalking/community/jasongull/trystero.jpg>


I'm glad that it sounds like Jason is getting as much out of the 
poetic/aesthetic potential of chalking up the city as I am. That's why 
I'm anxious to see some pictures!!!

Posted by matt at 11:15 PM 
<http://www.blackbeltjones.com/warchalking/archives/000256.html#000256> 
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