RE: a real Net scandal

Tom Whore (tomwhore@inetarena.com)
Wed, 29 Dec 1999 16:59:01 -0800 (PST)


<rant>

"The roads must roll" RAH

The issue of dues and riches never made a more striking chord for me
as when it pertains to the net. That so much was made by so many off the
labors of so great(and so under rewarded) should speak volumes to the true
natures of the nets current denizens.

Once the names of the tech, the makers of the roads, were known to all.
they were seen in the RFCs and the papers , they were on the FROM: line of
many learned emails. The deniznes of that era knew these names because to
be on the net was to know of the nets workings.

People talk now of the old skewl crabbiness, the church of former
day grouches and the widening gap of know and knownots. I can not make a
case for or against this here but to say that to truly be of a place is to
know of that places history. Millions will be made here, fortunes will be
taken whole, but behind the thin layer of solidity we here know that there
boils the ever burning couldron of possibility.

Those that make the mad cash but seek not the causes way may yet be set
to rights by those who work closer to the source. The riches here need
not be just of the benjamins. The possibility is always there for Timbl to
reach out and rework things for his own profit. Postel was in a prime
position to bring the 7 rings of mortal men to do his bidding. Many of you
on this list have the means to forge the protocals that will bring THEM
all and in your riches bind them.....

"Will you
Wont you
Want me to make you
Im comming down fast
so dont let me break you"

Welcome to the world of the all knowing all profiting walking talking
bullshit. If you want to make a million the path has been made clear, hook
the masses with some form of wow and pull in the dollars, pump out the
influence and plug into the great system of that great and glorious all
profitable payoff machine.

Bezos knows. Not a dime will he ever need to make , not a penny of real
profit will he ever need to produce. Hes got a trained monkey on the backs
of millions and they happily toss him spare change. Jobs knows. He sells a
lifestyle in fiesta condom colors and charges theu the nostrils for the
pleasure. Gates knows it. He comes on like a free fix of heroin and before
you know it your paying thru the nose just to maintain.

These are not bad things, these are just things. People want it, they
supply it. Money flows from Demand To Supply. Be on the right side of the
equation and you cant help but be drenched in the cashito.

The question you then need to ask yourself is this
" What Do I Want To Do With A Few Million In Real Money"
(im not speaking about the wallpaper riches many folk kvell about these
days, im talking the real cash to be made)

I know a few folks who have caught the brass ring on this ride. Sadly only
a samll fraction of them had any idea WHAT they wanted to do with the
cash.

For me it comes down to this, if I had the brains and the will to do it,
to make a little something something that people would toss me mad dollars
to use, I would be on it like pixels on a 21incher. I dont think i would
have many qualms about making cash off of whatever it was I did save for
a few of my philenthropic ventures like OTR and The Emonks gig. The real
fun would be on what I would spend the Million on.

Consumer goods (cars, stuff, ikea crap)? Nope. Im talking realestate and
enough brian power to keep on making grooby stuffs. Think of it as the
Collective To Take Over the World..Brainania.

Think of all the great fights folks could start, maybe not finsih, but at
least start, with a few million. How about taking down the FCC for one. Or
the Literacy problem. I got a a slew of theings Id love to be able to use
mad cash for.

The works of the makers and formers made alot of what I want to do
possible already. Lots of talk was heard back int he 80s about how the net
could be used to take things up to thier next logical extreem.Many people
took this to hear and ran with it. IN the last 10 years I have seen
poltical action take place on this medium, have seen people galvanize
behind casues in action in ways not possible without email, irc and web
pages. I think we have all seen a few instances of memes taking shape and
doing tangible "things" simply beacuse the methods were in place for the
meme to grow.

The consumer aspect was one I dotn think a lot of folks where thinking of
but one that come on (once they found it to thier liking) with a great
passion and vigor. There were always glimmers and islands of it before
(c$erve, pay bbs, prodigy) but more hopes were set on the noncommercial
ways. If you look at the sheer force of the .com wave over the landscape
you have to be at least a little in awe. Lots of bizs got it
right and got it big.

They had a dream and they made it real.

And thats the beuaty of it. If you want it, whatever that may be, you can
have it with work, dilligence and industry.

The question them becomes not one of "What would I do IF I were a rich
man?" (yiddle diddle yiddle diddile de da dum)
but one of
"What do I want to conquere today?"

Not all conqureed lands reap the same rewards. Some require vast amounts
of work and the monetary rewards are scarce if any. Im working with some
folks on freeing up some copy right issues with old time recordings.
Our rewards will not be so much in indivual ROI but in a community of
people having free and clear access to these historical items.

This is perhaps the rewards of Postel and Timbl and many others. they
will not be rich but will have enriched the lifes of others. Some value
this higher than all other rewards, some as simply an outgrowth of
ataining a personal goal.

So the next question is "What do I want to be rich in?"

Money, Power, Enriching Others, Influence, Archives, Data, Lore....

Which all leads me back to the main point of the post

"The Roads Must Roll" Those under the moving landscape of progress may not
all be suited ceo millionares, some may be grease stained WPA posterboys
whsoe names are know to a few but whos wroks will propel the masses.

To put it in Cobraboy terms... "pimpin aint easy"

</rant>

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