Rants & Raves
__Beta Haven __
I pray that the brave men and women of Sealand ("Welcome to Sealand. Now Bugger Off." Wired 8.07, page 230) will build a Napster and give the world free music forever. Nobody can stop them. Will we be so lucky?
__Eric Jacobson
jacobson2@prodigy.net __
It's ludicrous to say that HavenCo CTO Ryan Lackey's "big concept" is that "freedom is the next killer app." Sealand is the antithesis of true freedom. It has the same charter as every garden-variety third-world dictatorship:The leaders make up the laws to suit themselves. As usual, this antidemocracy is wrapped in feel-good lingo about independence and empowerment so the masses - er, clients - won't notice that they are nothing but passive participants in the dictator's power fantasies.
Sealand, with its explicit anti-authority posture, is actually about as authoritarian as they come.
__Kim Allen
kjas@mindspring.com __
Along with all the advantages of being off-government, HavenCo and the Principality of Sealand may discover some disadvantages. Providing their own laws, police, and national security may not be as easy as they think.
Let's assume they become as rich as they imagine. One of the citizens might decide to confiscate more than their share of the profits. Who would enforce HavenCo's internal agreements? The company couldn't bring their case to a British court. What if some of the staff staged a coup - where would the royal family turn? If a foreign nation tried to conquer Sealand, the British would probably intercede. But would the British lift a finger if a boatload of Bristol ruffians occupied Sealand by force?
__John Pankowicz
john-pankowicz@home.com __
I commend the action of the Sealand/HavenCo patriots. They have taken sovereignty to another level. If the physical nations shut them down - which is likely - it will only prove that these nations talk of freedom but don't mean it. But if HavenCo succeeds, we will see a dotcom stampede to buy or lease space on offshore oil rigs and the like. HavenCo will reveal the obsolescence of the socialist nation-state.
__George Mullen
gmullen@cybernationoffreedom.com __
__Burning Love __
I must be the perfect example of the type of reader you were trying to appeal to with Wired 8.07. Could it be because I was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan - furniture capital of the world ("The Hot Seat," page 196)? Or maybe because I was a professional camper - a US park ranger - after leaving college ("Wired High Trek," page 209)? Or how about the fact that I am a systems administrator for a growing, future-facing business? Whatever it is, this issue was not "take it to the bathroom" reading. This was an "inhale it from cover to cover ... as fast as you can" issue. Keep up the good work!
__Christopher Everett
everett_christopher@hotmail.com __
__Please Be Seated __
Thanks to Bruce Sterling for hitting the three big chair designs on the market ("The Hot Seat," Wired 8.07, page 196); without a doubt these are the cult objets de posterior. While everyone's rear will have its own preference in the showroom, it is only after sitting and working in the Aeron that one can appreciate the most striking difference among the three products. The pellicle fabric upholstery of the Herman Miller chair prevents the seated from experiencing a buildup of perspiration. As remarkable as the other two are, this sets the Aeron apart.
I'm not in the chair industry; I'm just a seating junkie. Great article - I loved reading it in the comfort of my Aeron.
__Ken Whitcomb
ken@imageguild.com __
"The Hot Seat" danced around an obvious conclusion: For prolonged periods it is best to stand. Duh!
When my two businesses went digital and I was faced with having employees sit at workstations for eight to ten hours a day, I already knew that human beings were designed to stand. So I had each worker stand at an ergonomically designed workstation. Voilà! No back problems. No carpal tunnel problems. I had my people fitted with good shoes, and after a week they were a bunch of happy campers. My bottom line was never better: Time lost due to on-the-job fatigue or injury was nil.
Perhaps the new century will bring everyone else to their senses.
__Avrum Fine
filmamerica@mindspring.com __
__Enlightened Self-Gratification __
While reading "Revenge of the Know-It-Alls" (Wired 8.07, page 144), I was amazed to find nearly empirical vindication of a masterful work written more than a century ago - Edward Bellamy's 1888 Looking Backward , a vision of the late 20th century. In his opus, Bellamy envisaged precisely a human nature driven by "honor and the hope of men's gratitude, patriotism and the inspiration of duty," a nature that seems manifest in the egoboo junkies of contemporary society. Kudos to those who assist others for the sake of doing so, despite lack of pecuniary reward. If egoboo is what it takes, then so be it.
__Chad Hays
hays@uinc.edu __
__Capital Offense __
I am concerned that, according to "Venture Capitals" (Wired 8.07, page 258), Atlanta is not seen as a venture capital. Atlanta has long been home to "traditional companies" like Scientific Atlanta, Coca-Cola, and UPS - but in the past 10 years Atlanta has become a leading technology center. Healtheon/WebMD, iXL, and EarthLink are merely a sampling of the 10,000-plus technology companies in our city.
Atlanta ranks second nationally in the number of engineering and technology graduates and fourth in computer science degrees. Atlanta has more than 25 incubators, and in the first quarter of 2000, Georgia ranked fifth nationally in venture capital.
It should be apparent that Atlanta's technology community has already established itself as a true venture capital.
__Bill Campbell
Mayor,
Atlanta __
To my horror, Ottawa is not even mentioned in "Venture Capitals," though the high tech industry here is bursting at the seams - there isn't enough land to go around. This winter, high tech workers will outnumber government employees for the first time. Venture capital investments are increasing, and investors are finally putting real money into companies. This is the second time that Ottawa has been passed over in your survey. What do we have to do to get your attention - annex California?
__Salik M. Rafiq
salik.rafiq@cognos.com __
__Truly, Madly, Deeply __
"Fuel's Paradise" (Wired 8.07, page 160) is an absolutely exemplary interview, and a rare case where the interviewer was really well prepared to elicit what matters from an extraordinary interviewee, Thomas Gold. I am abjectly grateful to Wired and full of admiration for Oliver Morton.
__Joseph Quittner
quittner@raex.com __
Gold's conjectures about ultradeep oil supplies are next to irrelevant. The hypothetical superbasin in the mantle is so far beyond the reach of current technology that it would be useless for decades, even if it does exist. Our current oil shortage is caused not by inadequate reserves, but by inadequate production capacity. Unfortunately, this shortage isn't solely caused by politics or simple price gouging; low prices in 1998-99 robbed the industry of the enormous capital required to drill wells to meet the continually growing demand.
The energy shortage is real and we should all be prepared for prices to rise significantly higher.
__Trevor Hicks
tbone2340@yahoo.com __
__Intel Outside __
I very much enjoyed your treatise on Transmeta and David Ditzel ("Transmeta Inside," Wired 8.07, page 174). He is messianic and has the power to convince others that he is right, so ignoring the media and the analyst community only serves to further his aims and give power to his acolytes.
One thing that no one can take away from Intel, however, is its understanding of community. Look at Intel's mortgage package for teachers. Ever since it became a $1 billion company it's been enriching the community, and that makes for a sustainable lead in the industry. It isn't just about the chipsets.
__David Abramson
dabramson1@mindspring.com __
__Send your Rants & Raves to: __
Email: rants@wiredmag.com
Snail mail: Wired , PO Box 78470 San Francisco, CA 94107-8470
Editorial guidelines: guidelines@wiredmag.com
Editorial correspondence: editor@wiredmag.com
