Jorn Barger Missing?
Atom Debris
Jorn Barger has been missing since October 1st, which explains the
lack of recent updates on Robot Wisdom. Further delving revealed
that, apparently, Jorn is simply keeping very very much to himself for
now, and does not wish to be found... which is perhaps alarming for
other reasons, but at least (according to the Socorro, New Mexico
police) he's physically OK.
I wonder what he's going through.
There's a lot of huge important points that can be hung on the
questions we might ask now about Jorn. Some of those points are
connected with my own (multitudinous) reasons for deliberately
alienating much of ark several years ago, an act I do not regret and
do not ask your forgiveness for. I choose not to discuss that
incident further for the moment... I'm posting today to talk about
Jorn, not about me.
It's undeniable that Jorn has strong opinions. He's taken a lot of
heat for his opinions, and while I'm not saying that I think Jorn is
always right, I will say that a lot of his most virulent detractors
are people who exhibit a knee-jerk reaction to certain topics...
topics that tend to be strong emotional triggers. If you question or
criticize Israel or the ideology behind the Jewish religion, for
instance, somebody out there will invariably call you a Nazi no matter
what the actual gist of your argument may be. Please note that
questioning a government's policies and/or criticizing an ideology is
not, by any stretch of the imagination, the same thing as condemning
people for being born Jewish.
People who express strong opinions often inspire anger and hatred in
others. That anger and hatred can be a terrible burden. The
oppressiveness of being the target of so much dislike is intensified
to the nth degree when the people who hate you are not even
intellectually equipped to understand the opinions you express, but
merely react to whatever emotional triggers might be connected with
the topic at hand. Love him or hate him, Jorn is a very smart guy,
and I'm sure he must know the feeling I'm talking about all too
well... he's undoubtedly smarter than the majority of the people who
read the things he writes, and that's bound to make things hard on him
every time the hate mail starts hitting his inbox. It's one thing to
get hate mail from people who understand your stand on something, and
quite another to get hate mail from people who have utterly
misconstrued your statements, and who will not or cannot listen to
reason.
I want to emphasize again that I do not always agree with Jorn
Barger. I also want to point out that he's not someone I think of as
a friend. I've exchanged a small amount of e-mail with him over the
years, and I don't know him well enough to call him my friend.
Frankly, I suspect that he doesn't like me one little bit anyway...
which, to me, is totally irrelevant.
Jorn Barger has pissed off people all over the world, and not a few
of them right here in this newsgroup. He's expressed unpopular (and
easily misconstrued) opinions, and has perhaps said one or two things
that were not only offensive, but most likely wrong. But does that
really matter? He's got a right to his opinions, and the
controversies he's generated have typically been of an intellectually
invigorating type. Right or wrong, offensive or not, Jorn tends to
stir the pot up in a useful, refreshing manner. He forces you into
seeing things from previously unconsidered angles. When I was a
regular reader and contributor to ark, I considered Jorn to be a
valuable asset to the group in many ways. I assume that some of you
feel the same way.
You don't have to agree with me, and I'm not asking you to do
anything. I just wanted to give you some food for thought in the
hopes that maybe, just maybe, something good might come of it. At the
very least, I hope it softens a perspective or two. Ideally, someone
who is much closer to Jorn than I have ever been will seek him out and
offer him a sympathetic ear before he retreats any further or any more
permanently. Again: I wonder what he's going through that would make
him drop out of sight so thoroughly that the police get called in to
investigate. Don't you?
M OTIS BEARD
Schwa Love
news:95ab3d9f.03120...@posting.google.com:
> [Jorn is missing and he is smarter than many of us and he is a
> misunderstood jeenyus and police were called]
Yeah, that's great and all, but why hasn't Chris Franks posted in over a
year?
-- Schwa ---
Ben Wolfson
Actually, it's been over two years, since the new millenium started in
2001, not 2000. HTH!
--
BTR
The Glass Marble, mistaking the No. 37 Penpoint for the Four-Holed
Button, pushed it into the Yawning Chasm.
Paula
>And why does Ranjit send e-mails but doesn't post?
Because he is flirting you, of course!
Paula
Or else he has recently written a book he wants edited
Gregory King
> Today I was browsing Boing Boing, and saw an entry to the effect that
> Jorn Barger has been missing since October 1st, which explains the
> lack of recent updates on Robot Wisdom. Further delving revealed
> that, apparently, Jorn is simply keeping very very much to himself for
> now, and does not wish to be found... which is perhaps alarming for
> other reasons, but at least (according to the Socorro, New Mexico
> police) he's physically OK.
Gee, Motis, maybe he was just trying to fake his own death. I bet you
never considered that, did you? And now you've just come along and ruined
all his fun!
--
Gregory King :: http://flyingpawn.com/
This .sig was made with pirated software.
Talysman the Ur-Beatle
news:pan.2003.12.07...@flyingpawn.com:
> On Tue, 02 Dec 2003 21:10:35 +0000, Atom Debris wrote:
>
>> Today I was browsing Boing Boing, and saw an entry to the effect that
>> Jorn Barger has been missing since October 1st, which explains the
>> lack of recent updates on Robot Wisdom. Further delving revealed
>> that, apparently, Jorn is simply keeping very very much to himself
>> for now, and does not wish to be found... which is perhaps alarming
>> for other reasons, but at least (according to the Socorro, New Mexico
>> police) he's physically OK.
>
> Gee, Motis, maybe he was just trying to fake his own death. I bet you
> never considered that, did you? And now you've just come along and
> ruined all his fun!
I think when you say "Motis ruined Jorn's fun," you might be misspelling
"Wired Magazine".
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,61458,00.html?tw=wn_culthead_2
(oh nos! Wired cut Jorn Barger's head! oh wait, that says "culthead".)
what I want to know is: how does Jorn rate semi-major media operations
being interested in his health, whereas neither you nor I get phonecalls
from the media asking if we're still alive?
although I may be getting close! the current issue of The Wire (british
music magazine, I think,) has a story on the Northern California
Experimental Music Festival in their Global Ear section. I haven't tracked
down a copy of the magazine to see if I'm actually mentioned by name
(probably not,) but hey! "The Wire" is just like "Wired", with one less
letter, but an extra article!
--
Talysman the Ur-Beatle, STRAWGRASPER
Gregory King
> I think when you say "Motis ruined Jorn's fun," you might be misspelling
> "Wired Magazine".
Well, I'm sure Jorn will forgive Wired. He can't possibly be upset about
getting some free publicity in the only printed publication that his
audience trusts to tell them the truth about what's going on in the
exciting future world of the InterNet.
> http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,61458,00.html?tw=wn_culthead_2
>
> (oh nos! Wired cut Jorn Barger's head! oh wait, that says "culthead".)
>
> what I want to know is: how does Jorn rate semi-major media operations
> being interested in his health, whereas neither you nor I get phonecalls
> from the media asking if we're still alive?
Yeesh. Maybe you and I just aren't flaky enough to require the resources
of a semi-major media operation just to find out if we're still alive.
I keep forgetting that a key factor in making a name for yourself on the
internet is to have absolutely nothing else in your life to distract you
from attaining your 15 minutes of cyberfame. Or maybe that's just sour
grapes because no one is going around saying "Hey, everyone, let's go read
<http://flyingpawn.com/greg/>! He remembered to update it this month, so
he's probably not dead!"
robert lindsay
> "Gregory King" <greg-...@flyingpawn.com> wrote in
> news:pan.2003.12.07...@flyingpawn.com:
>
>> On Tue, 02 Dec 2003 21:10:35 +0000, Atom Debris wrote:
>>
>>> Today I was browsing Boing Boing, and saw an entry to the effect that
>>> Jorn Barger has been missing since October 1st, which explains the
>>> lack of recent updates on Robot Wisdom. Further delving revealed
>>> that, apparently, Jorn is simply keeping very very much to himself
>>> for now, and does not wish to be found... which is perhaps alarming
>>> for other reasons, but at least (according to the Socorro, New Mexico
>>> police) he's physically OK.
>>
>> Gee, Motis, maybe he was just trying to fake his own death. I bet you
>> never considered that, did you? And now you've just come along and
>> ruined all his fun!
>
> I think when you say "Motis ruined Jorn's fun," you might be misspelling
> "Wired Magazine".
>
> http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,61458,00.html?tw=wn_culthead_2
>
> (oh nos! Wired cut Jorn Barger's head! oh wait, that says "culthead".)
>
> what I want to know is: how does Jorn rate semi-major media operations
> being interested in his health, whereas neither you nor I get phonecalls
> from the media asking if we're still alive?
To say nothing of The Register fawning all over him.
I even sent Thomas C Greene in washington my free link to the TERROREX 04
conference, and I don't get any props from El Reg.
Jeremy D. Impson
> On Sun, 07 Dec 2003 21:18:10 GMT, "Talysman the Ur-Beatle"
> <taly...@globalsurrealism.com> wrote:
[...]
> >(oh nos! Wired cut Jorn Barger's head! oh wait, that says "culthead".)
[...]
> Come to find out he's a forty-something "former AI programmer" with an
> emotional age of about 14.
YAY!! I'm THREE EMOTIONAL YEARS older than Jorn. I WIN. *woot*
> Maybe that's why no one has compared Joe to Borges. Sheesh. Was he
> really that profound? He seemed like just another brat here.
Oooh! Who else is on the brat list? Am I on it? Am I?
--Jeremy
Are we there yet?
--
Jeremy Impson
jdimpson can be contacted at acm dot org
http://impson.tzo.com/~jdimpson
Kevin S. Wilson
He got laid off, remember? And didn't think he would beable to afford
an Internet connection.
--
Kevin S. Wilson
Tech Writer at a University Somewhere in Idaho
"You can safely ignore Kevin in order to
maximise life's experience." --A. Loon, in alt.religion.kibology
Schwa Love
news:mmj9tvo52l6npe5h0...@4ax.com:
> On 05 Dec 2003 08:07:55 GMT, Schwa Love <schw...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>atomd...@yahoo.com (Atom Debris) wrote in
>>news:95ab3d9f.03120...@posting.google.com:
>>
>>> [Jorn is missing and he is smarter than many of us and he is a
>>> misunderstood jeenyus and police were called]
>>
>>Yeah, that's great and all, but why hasn't Chris Franks posted in over a
>>year?
>>
> He got laid off, remember? And didn't think he would beable to afford
> an Internet connection.
No I didn't remember but that clears that up. Thanks!
-- Schwa ---
Ask an honest question and get an honest answer after only one silly
answer? What is this froup coming to? Things are just totally going
downhill and people are posting while ignoring that nagging sense that
tells them not to psot from their barcaloungers. COME BACK JORN! ALL IS
FORGIVEN!!!
Ben Allard
> Ask an honest question and get an honest answer after only one silly
> answer? What is this froup coming to? Things are just totally going
> downhill and people are posting while ignoring that nagging sense that
> tells them not to psot from their barcaloungers. COME BACK JORN! ALL
> IS FORGIVEN!!!
It could get worse, you fucking shitdicker. Why don't you call us when you
graduate from grade school.
--
Ben
If this were a nice restaurant, I would, of course, be wearing
clothing appropriate to the occasion and my most fashionable tin foil
hat. -Paula, <p8qfrv42qjdp591tr...@4ax.com>
Paula
>On Sun, 07 Dec 2003 21:18:10 GMT, "Talysman the Ur-Beatle"
><taly...@globalsurrealism.com> wrote:
>
>>I think when you say "Motis ruined Jorn's fun," you might be misspelling
>>"Wired Magazine".
>>
>>http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,61458,00.html?tw=wn_culthead_2
>>
>>(oh nos! Wired cut Jorn Barger's head! oh wait, that says "culthead".)
>
>I wasn't around for much of Jorn's posting here, but from what I did
>see, I thought he was *a lot* younger--like maybe 22, with an
>emotional age of about 14. Come to find out he's a forty-something
>"former AI programmer" with an emotional age of about 14. The Feed
>story about him
>(http://web.archive.org/web/20000510161001/www.feedmag.com/feature/cx329.shtml)
>reminds me somewhat of Joe Bernstein (who posts in news.groups), who
>is currently homeless and jobless and is working on a history of
>Usenet, except that Joe appears to be a lot more grounded in reality.
>Maybe that's why no one has compared Joe to Borges. Sheesh. Was he
>really that profound? He seemed like just another brat here.
You must have missed the part about his being so brilliant that peons
like you couldn't understand him. I'm sure Motis would be happy to
repeat it for you until you get it through your thick skull.
Also, I think a lot of people who are very smart are immature brats.
The ones who are truly brilliant don't seem to feel the need to
announce it so much, though, IME. Perhaps they have more important
things to think about than whether everyone knows how smart they are.
Or something.
--
Paula
"I guess it's true what they say: slaughter is the best medicine."
---swt
Schwa Love
news:Xns944BBA...@130.133.1.4:
> Schwa Love <schw...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Ask an honest question and get an honest answer after only one silly
>> answer? What is this froup coming to? Things are just totally going
>> downhill and people are posting while ignoring that nagging sense
>> that tells them not to psot from their barcaloungers. COME BACK
>> JORN! ALL IS FORGIVEN!!!
>
> It could get worse, you fucking shitdicker. Why don't you call us
> when you graduate from grade school.
Sorry. I am overstepping my bounds and being an ass. I will stop.
Ben Allard
Great, now I don't know who is trolling who and it makes me sad in my
tummy.
--
Ben
Oh, big deal. Anyone can hire a prostitute. I thought the orgies would be
with, you know, famous people.
--Lots42 on Monday, December 8th 2003
Schwa Love
> Schwa Love <schw...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Ben Allard <bal...@wpi.edu> wrote in
>> news:Xns944BBA...@130.133.1.4:
>>
>>> Schwa Love <schw...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Ask an honest question and get an honest answer after only one silly
>>>> answer? What is this froup coming to? Things are just totally going
>>>> downhill and people are posting while ignoring that nagging sense
>>>> that tells them not to psot from their barcaloungers. COME BACK
>>>> JORN! ALL IS FORGIVEN!!!
>>>
>>> It could get worse, you fucking shitdicker. Why don't you call us
>>> when you graduate from grade school.
>>
>> Sorry. I am overstepping my bounds and being an ass. I will stop.
>
> Great, now I don't know who is trolling who and it makes me sad in my
> tummy.
D'oh!
Well, if that was a troll, it still made me look at what I was doing, and I
realize that some folks like Jorn 'round here (hence the initial post by
Motis) and are concerned for his well-being and I'm probably being an
insensitive jerk to those people, so again, I'll just stop. Thanks for
playing and winning... I need to go back to Anti-Trolling School where they
make us recite the definition of "gullible" from the Oxford English
Dictionary instead of the Pledge of Allegience, even though it violates my
First Amendment rights because my people don't believe in language.
-- Schwa ---
This message was typed by a very lucky monkey on a psychic typewriter, who
will soon be starring in their own movie.
Ben Allard
> Well, if [your troll] was a troll, it still made me look at what I was
> doing, and I realize that some folks like Jorn 'round here (hence the
> initial post by Motis) and are concerned for his well-being and I'm
> probably being an insensitive jerk to those people, so again, I'll
> just stop.
Wow, I get to explain my first joke! I'm EXACTLY like Kibo.
So my point was even at the group's worst, with nothing but cat threads and
Barger-style content lectures and xposted hitlerbots, it could be a lot
worse, because we could all be flaming each other like a bunch of sixteen-
year-old forons all the time.
John Burrage
: Schwa Love <schw...@yahoo.com> wrote:
: Great, now I don't know who is trolling who and it makes me sad in my
: tummy.
Hmmm! Like when you're out of beer and you have to drink window cleaner? That
kind of feeling? Or is it more like a Teletubbie not getting good reception
from the Windmill of Radiation? Actually, those feelings are more or less the
same, or so I've heard.
--
John Burrage
http://members.iinet.net.au/~burrage/
Schwa Love
> Schwa Love <schw...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Well, if [your troll] was a troll, it still made me look at what I
>> was doing, and I realize that some folks like Jorn 'round here (hence
>> the initial post by Motis) and are concerned for his well-being and
>> I'm probably being an insensitive jerk to those people, so again,
>> I'll just stop.
>
> Wow, I get to explain my first joke! I'm EXACTLY like Kibo.
>
> So my point was even at the group's worst, with nothing but cat
> threads and Barger-style content lectures and xposted hitlerbots, it
> could be a lot worse, because we could all be flaming each other like
> a bunch of sixteen- year-old forons all the time.
Yeah, well I think the explanation of your joke is that YOU'RE A DOODY
DOODY DUM DUM DING DONG!
It could be worse... we could be flaming each other like a bunch of wordy
philosopher fans:
http://forums.philosophyforums.com/showthread.php?t=4338&page=1
-- Schwa ---
Ben Allard
> Ben Allard <bal...@wpi.edu> wrote:
>: Schwa Love <schw...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>: Great, now I don't know who is trolling who and it makes me sad in my
>: tummy.
>
> Hmmm! Like when you're out of beer and you have to drink window
> cleaner? That kind of feeling? Or is it more like a Teletubbie not
> getting good reception from the Windmill of Radiation?
No, it's more like when Domokum eats a puppy, and stabs you with the idea
of the puppy he ate. In the stomach. So if being stabbed in the stomach
with the ghost of a puppy eaten by domokun by domokun is like either of
those other things, then yes.
bobbyhaqq
> On Sun, 07 Dec 2003 21:18:10 +0000, Talysman the Ur-Beatle wrote:
>
> > I think when you say "Motis ruined Jorn's fun," you might be misspelling
> > "Wired Magazine".
>
> Well, I'm sure Jorn will forgive Wired. He can't possibly be upset about
> getting some free publicity in the only printed publication that his
> audience trusts to tell them the truth about what's going on in the
> exciting future world of the InterNet.
>
Well I can say I know Jorn from some long time ago, and I would say
that Jorn is not the kind of person who cares about publicity. He
could make a great deal of money yesterday if he wanted to.
But from what I understand this is something Jorn would do, and then
come out of and do something else.
It is strange though that perhaps the first entirely cyber-person
died, and I think his story will be an interesting one to tell.
Tim Serpas
>Today I was browsing Boing Boing, and saw an entry to the effect that
>Jorn Barger has been missing since October 1st, which explains the
>lack of recent updates on Robot Wisdom.
"Me. too". Also, robotwisdom.com is no longer responding
on the web.
Wretch
bobbyhaqq
Yes, he is really gone. He's cyberdead, or cybersuicide, \
Whats stange is how normal his last posts were, no sign at all he was
even considering moving. The day before he vanished he was asking for
input on video games that might related to Iraq.
But he has been contacted by police.