W: Maybe it makes more sense if we think if we’re talking into this tape to ourselves ten years from now, since that’s— D: Oh, I’m already— S: That’s all I’ve ever intended to do. W: Really? S: Yes. W: With all your writing and everything is just? S: Nonono, I didn’t say with all my writing and everything. I meant into this tape recorder right here right now. W: Okay. S: I’m basically talking to you guys, ten years from now. And—potentially thousands on WEFT radio, Champaign-Urbana. [Cracking up.] W: Literally tens. S: The voice of the prairie. W: And me, driving home. S: Indeed. Probably more you than the WEFT listeners. WEFT. It’s where you wanna be. W: Oh, god. Maybe we should turn this thing… it’s not. [Long silence.] S: Okay, uh, suitable. Yeah. Well actually… . W: What? Um. We could. S: Um, now I’m starting to think about talking to myself ten years from now. W: Is that a fun thing to think about? S:… . D: No. It’s embarrassing. Because… I’ve seen versions of myself, twenty years ago, thirty years ago, in letters, etc. and—It is appalling—the journalism I wrote when I was twenty years old is embarrassing. The papers I wrote when I was that age—very embarrassing. The letters I wrote—incredibly embarrassing. So I imagine that ten years from now, I be incredibly embarrassed by this current version of myself as well. But—that’s what it’s about. S: Spoooool. D: Spool. Exactly. Exactly. W: Well, if you’re embarrassed now, wait till you see the hypertext. S: Actually we were talking about the hypertext. D: We were talking about the hypertext. I was saying, anyway, we violated the FCC rules. Before the fact, since this has not been broadcast, but I’m in anticipation of violation of the rules and therefore we have to cut it short. S: I have a feeling this is gonna be like a basement tape kind of thing. D: I was saying that— [Dirk cracks up] I was saying that having three authors for a hypertext seems to be more in the spirit of a hypertext than a single author dictating all the paths. Or not dictating the paths, but limiting the choices that are available. S: Actually, if you look at the way ah, you know, postmodernism has sort of, evolved as theory, the idea of the, ah, sort of decentered consciousness, um, without any sort of ontological certainty, ah, sort of leads you to hypertext, in a way, and collaborative hypertext, I think, might very well be, uh, the medium which is suitable for that kind of—end—teleology. [Silence.] S: I don’t know. The storm is like now subsiding. Which would suggest that the lightning no longer a threat. W: We should set Dirk up in front of the uh, uh Netscape and “Trip.” He should read it and we should observe his reactions carefully and write them down. S: I don’t know about observing and writing down. I’m not sure if that’s healthy. PREVIOUS / THE UNKNOWN

Transcript (5) 4:17 489K RealAudio Clip