TEXT 0 ZERO INTERNET TEXT - preliminary Alan Sondheim sondheim@panix.com [This was written in 1994; please see the Netindex.txt and the introduction at the beginning of Net1.txt as well. Internet Text now consists of 14 sections, as well as an alphabet-text extension.] INTERNET TEXT is a meditation on the philosophy, psychology, poli- tical economy, and psychoanalytics of Internet (computer) communica- tion. It describes the phenomenology of the "electronic subject," the user who is plugged into the computer as a correspondent or researcher. It is dedicated to Michael Current, my co-moderator on the Cybermind list, who passed away recently. The text is divided into eight sections, labeled Net1-8; the sections are also given the following titles: Net1: Internet Text, approx. 82k Net2: Love on the Net, approx. 84k Net3: Web Text, approx. 89k Net4: Clara Text, approx. 86k Net5: Singularities Text, approx. 86k Net6: Secret Text, approx. 82k Net7, Net 8: approx. 82k each. The first three texts form a core volume; the first text forms a core volume. These develop an analysis of the Net based on protocol, spew, emission, recognition, address, imaginary, murmur, and the uncanny. The texts should be read in order; only the first section of the first text is in traditional form, however. (It should be returned to as a continuous REWRITE of itself and the others.) The last five texts open up, encompassing other areas as well. The fourth includes work on "the last science fiction story," for example, and the fifth includes work on projection/introjection in relation to "real" correspondents on BBS, email, lists, and Usenet. Parts of the final texts deal with death, hacking, and the "stuttering" of Net communication. All texts have been written as ASCII files; there are graphics, how- ever, that can be generated by running the several qbasic programs given in the files. I envision Internet Text as a single work. The style can be difficult at times, and the format changes radically at times, from one section to another. But style and format reflect content, a rapidly spreading and relatively new form of communication on the planet. (Incidentally, much of the analysis applies to telephony as well.) I envision the reader as self-generating, as if the texts were a form of inner voice. What I am attempting is also relatively new; bear with the texts, and they will prove rewarding. Keywords: These connect: address, recognition, protocol, electronic subject, grain, spew, emission, murmur, exhausiton, obdurate, uncanny, imaginary, projection/introjection, _chora_, devouring, liquidity, bridge, pipeline, node, transitivity, gesture, web and web inversion. Usage: The texts may be distributed in any medium - indeed, I urge you to do so - provided I am credited with authorship. I would appreciate in return any comments you may have. Also, some recommendations: The CYBERMIND list at World.std.com (write to majordomo@world.std.com and include in the body of the message: subscribe cybermind The FICTION-OF-PHILOSOPHY list at World.std.com Louis Althusser: THE FUTURE LASTS FOREVER Mark Poster: THE MODE OF INFORMATION Guido Ceronetti, THE SILENCE OF THE BODY Alphonso Lingis, EXCESSES and THE COMMUNITY OF THOSE WHO HAVE NOTHING IN COMMON TeRry Winograd and Fernando Flores: UNDERSTANDING COMPUTERS AND COGNITION Paul Virilio, WAR AND CINEMA Avital Ronell, THE TELEPHONE BOOK Merlin Donald, ORIGINS OF THE MODERN MIND Julia Kristeva, REVOLUTION IN POETIC LANGUAGE Verena Conley, RETHINKING TECHNOLOGIES PERFORATIONS magazine (contact zeug@pd.org) Michael Benedikt, CYBERSPACE Alan Sondheim, DISORDERS OF THE REAL (shameless plug) Pierre Bourdieu, AN INVITATION TO REFLEXIVE SOCIOLOGY Michel Serres, THE PARASITE (and anything else you can get!) Anything by P.J. Harvey (music) ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Alan Sondheim, 432 Dean St., Brooklyn, NY, 11217 Tel. 718-857-3671 sondheim@panix.com