Chabon on BE

[Rich Clavey]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporary_Autonomous_Zone

--------------------------------------------
On Sun, 10/20/13, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: Chabon on BE
 To: "Rich" <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
 Cc: "John Bailey" <sundayjb at gmail.com>, "Michael Bailey" <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>, "P-list" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
 Date: Sunday, October 20, 2013, 5:56 PM
 
 But Pynchon's main point about all
 these Zones is their brief existence.  Small temporary
 places beyond the reach of enslaving power.  Always to be
 briefly enjoyed before those spaces are colonized or
 reclaimed.
 
 
 On Sunday, October 20, 2013, Rich  wrote:
 As I've said before
 Pynchon has left preterite somewheres
 
 
 On Oct 20, 2013, at 3:21 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
 
 It is an analogy, and
 only one of many possible zones.  Not that I espouse this
 kind of zonal paradise.  It just seems Pynchon repeated
 model.
 
 
 On Sunday, October 20, 2013, Rich  wrote:
 
 But what good is it if only accessible by the well
 connected (haha)?
 
 Hardly a paradise, no?
 rich
 On Oct 20, 2013, at 2:22 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
 
 
 
 I think DA is supposed to
 be internet Zone, anarchy, a place w/o rules or rulers.
 Pynchon Paradise. What is it "for?"  Wrong
 question. What for do you want to make it?
 
 
 David Morris
 
 On Saturday, October 19, 2013, John Bailey  wrote:
 
 Yeah, I'm a bit confused about
 DeepArcher too... as far as I can tell,
 
 it's a program lodged in the deep web, which as you say
 is basically
 
 the "place" where IP addresses aren't
 connected to DNS so won't show
 
 up on any search engine, and you need a direct link or
 knowledge of
 
 the specific IP address to access it.
 
 
 
 So that kind of makes sense - DeepArcher is a program with
 Second
 
 Life-like aspects that can't be accessed unless you have
 the key. And
 
 later on the security of the fortress is compromised, and
 then the
 
 gates are just thrown open and it basically leaves the Deep
 Web and is
 
 accessible from the surface.
 
 
 
 What I really don't get is what the *hell* the program
 is for. A
 
 Second Life that only a handful of people can get into? And
 do what?
 
 The descriptions of Maxine's early journeys around the
 place make it
 
 seem like a point-and-click adventure game with no mystery
 to it or
 
 reason to play further. Except it has stunning graphics, for
 the
 
 era...
 
 
 
 At first I thought it was a navigation system for travelling
 through
 
 the Deep Web but that doesn't really seem right, since
 it would
 
 basically be a search engine with graphical interface for
 finding the
 
 IP addresses of places that aren't meant to be findable.
 Which would
 
 be exactly the thing that would pose a threat to the entire
 meaning of
 
 the Deep Web, even if you could erase your footsteps the way
 DA
 
 promises.
 
 
 
 Anyway, maybe that's the point - that this supposedly
 subversive
 
 method of total anonymity itself provides the architecture
 for control
 
 and surveillance and some sweet home shopping.
 
 
 
 On Sun, Oct 20, 2013 at 2:04 PM, Michael Bailey
 
 <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
 wrote:
 
 >
 
 > On Oct 19, 2013 7:09 PM, "Monte Davis" <montedavis at verizon.net> wrote:
 
 >>
 
 >> Chabon is careless there. Ernie's capsule
 history is not *historically*
 
 >> baseless: yes, DARPA did fund some of the IT
 research leading to TCP/IP
 
 >> and
 
 >> packet switching. And yes, the Cold War
 justification for that funding
 
 >> *was*
 
 >> to develop a network technology that could
 "work around" servers knocked
 
 >> out
 
 >> by enemy attack, so that government could keep
 communicating.
 
 >>
 
 >
 
 > One of my other favorite authors, John Crowley, in _The
 Translator_
 
 > made the female protagonist's dad a darpa dude and
 evoked those times
 
 > wonderfully.
 
 >
 
 > If we were gonna get crazy and do a non-p group read
 like we did a few yrs
 
 > back - I guess I finally thought of the one I'd
 suggest (-:
 
 >
 
 > But getting back to BE, I sort of have a question about
 this deep web where
 
 > Deep Archer resides - does that correspond to anything
 nonfictional?  I mean
 
 > are we talking about using a browser to navigate to
 some bare IP address
 
 > known not to dns at all but only to the cognoscenti?
 Afaik there were bbses,
 
 > ftp and gopher, and then all of a sudden there was
 yahoo and aol and urls
 
 > but nowhere was there anything like deep archer which
 is sophisticated,
 
 > ambiguous - nothing like the games I'm aware of -
 plus it's more and less
 
 > than a game, possibly even a place that responds to
 users' emotional and
 
 > spiritual states of mind and even a place where a
 person can be said to
 
 > reside while accessing it.  Maybe a mmorpg or a Second
 Life type
 
 > environment?
 
 >
 
 > A development of the angelic realms alluded to at the
 beginning of Vineland
 
 > and the amazing things computers - the ideal readers
 with the ideal insomnia
 
 > - can do with mere 1s and 0s by stringing enough of
 them together.
 
 >
 
 
 
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l