

Stewart Brand Wants to Revive Extinct Species (Interview w/ Kevin Kelly) - sachinmonga
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/08/ff_stewartbrand/all/

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tgrass
_The best counterculture now is in biology. As far as I can tell, biohackers
are all adventurous young people, incredibly athletic, and they’re all
traveling the world._

If you reflect on a creator's willingness to work outside of polite society,
the web seems so very static and conservative now. I am not necessarily
comparing it to some bygone days where hackers were cowboys, because I only
recently discovered the web - I'm comparing it to the potential of any
community.

Impressionist painters in the 1870's struck out in defiance of the academic
community. Sculpture followed twenty or so years on. Architecture made equally
bold moves counter to the norm and expectations. All of these are conservative
arts now for the most part. One of the most popular trends now in architecture
is the International Style of 80 years ago.

Every so often a new field erupts that is democratic and allows the novitiate
to explore and express (and to be honest about the human condition and not
play politics to preserve one's rank). The web had that potential, but I don't
see it being fulfilled.

[EDIT] It is interesting to find this piece on Brand, who I know best through
his How Buildings Learn, which is one of the best works I've read on man's
place in the built environment: he studies the historical records of
structures that have survived man's use, and identified the general attributes
that contribute to those successes. It is an empirical view of architecture
and by extension, planning. It is a conservative view, in that it values the
preservation of things past, but it is a liberal view in that it seeks the
freedom of the building and tenant.

~~~
sachinmonga
I'll definitely have to check out How Buildings Learn, your description sounds
great. Both Brand and Kelly have really interesting views on the implications
and effects on cities.

There's a great full section on cities in Whole Earth Discipline, and here are
some of Kevin Kelly's writings you might like:

[http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2009/01/fossil_cities...](http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2009/01/fossil_cities.php)

[http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2011/07/cities_are_im...](http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2011/07/cities_are_immo.php)

[http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2011/05/whos_your_cit...](http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2011/05/whos_your_city.php)

------
rootedbox
Lisa: Well, that's what happens when you introduce foreign species into an
ecosystem that can't handle them. [everyone laughs more] [a lone koala holds
onto the helicopter with determination]

