It's been little more than a week since John Perry Barlow, the internet pioneer who became a digital rights activist died, and he's sorely missed but not forgotten.
There has been in my circles, a great outpouring of remembering and honoring the Mayor of the Internet. I love this Zach Leary piece about JP Barlow:
Throughout the course of any one person’s life there are sure to be a few key people that show up as agents of transformation. People who help to define the myriad of essential moments that shape your journey into one that has direction, purpose and meaning. I have my parents Timothy and Barbara, a couple of romantic relationships, many close friends and my teachers that I’ve known personally as well as in the astral. Within that mix, nestled deep in the roots of my formative years, resides John Perry Barlow. I say this with the utmost conviction and gratitude. I’d be a different person than I am today had I never crossed paths with Barlow.
Now I’m no authority on his life and legacy, just fan and someone that was influenced by him. I wrote my own little reflects 'THE BARD OF THE INTERNET: JOHN PERRY BARLOW' after I got the news, it was one of the weird moments where I needed to process someone's death that I never personally knew. I also did this Tribute Video:
Something comes to my mind after some time has passed, Legends don't die they just multiply.
John Perry Barlow was an open-access advocate before that was a thing, which brings me to the reason why I felt the need to create another post on him, The Internet Archive's John Perry Barlow collection. The archive of his work at the Internet Archive is full of what Bruce Sterling calls "a lot of weird, flaky, broke-the-mold stuff."
It may be truer to say the most of what he wrote and said was less an attempt to nail reality as it was to reshape reality. He was an unashamed aspirationalist. In that regard, Barlow had much in common with many prophets, gurus, visionaries, magicians, innovators, charlatans, and politicians in that he placed greater emphasis on what could be rather than what is. And he believed, as those just mentioned do and most journalists and scientists don't, that you can create reality with your words.
