This is my first posting to this list. I read about 100 messages last night
(of the 1,000 unread since I subscribed) to get an "immersive feel" of
what's kooking. Sooo I'm hoping to get straight to Level 3, whatever the
heck that means. Nothing wrong with a little grandiose ambition. I'm in the
process of conducting a little test to see which Subject: title has the most
effect, so please excuse me for trying to force anyone to read my garbage
three times by manipulating and rewriting of the subject title for "optimal
memetic impact". For those interested in the results thus far:
Memetic Journal list: HUMOUR: Memetics out of control ---> 4 responses.
Favourable.
Extropian list: ECON: Are we ready for hyper-economy ---> ZERO responses (=
transhumans eat less)
Virus list: Corporations are religions (where humour does appear to be
appreciated by those who "get it" and effective in stimulating carpal-jerk
responses regardless) ---> time will tell.
FWIW I have not read Richard Brodie's book, nor have I read Aaron Lynch's book. Am waiting for an eBook version, preferably Nuvomedia's Rocket. I have however purchased celluloid copies of both but they are not within geographical reach (otherside of the planet to be specific) and I fly around a lot so am limited to 60kg of personal possessions. I have however read The Relevant Chapter in "The Selfish Gene" at least twice ... and then spent the next 5 years reading biographies of those people who obviously had a great "memetic effect" on those around them. Churchill, Hitler and Stalin come to mind. I'm not that sure that the US President of the time had manic-depression, syphilis or drug addiction issues (or combos thereof)that their followers had to live with.
Thus is would be, IMO, easy for Bill Gates to orchestrate the scenario
below, the upside to the flock being pretty obvious, well relative to Jim
Jones's crowd. If it occurred, then perhaps Richard would be forever known
as the original composer of the greatest economic symphony in history so far
(assuming the entire NASDAQ followed suit the very next day). The story is
fictional. Mostly. I develop software for a living and *pray* daily for a
stock swap offer from The Man himself.
A successful religion = successful organising/herding of the *right* people
At the stroke before noon, April 1st 1999, Microsoft Corporation fully
intends to have the last laugh of the century. Literally. At the press of an
email Send button, Microsoft will instantly and electronically fragment into
hundreds of product oriented companies, and immediately publicly list *all*
of them simultaneously on *all* electronic stock exchanges. Day traders
will be given *free* (local call rates do apply) "Microsoft Trader" software
to assist them in drumming up the price with automatic trades. Wizards are
available to those new to the process. Free $1000 trade-fee discount
coupons will also be provided, the first 100 trades being totally *free*
(though ad supported).
Co-branding opportunities with Schwab and e*trade will of course be exploited ensuring that other suckers foot the cash outlay bill. To prevent the Internet from grinding to a halt at the moment of climax, traders eager to make a killing real quick can order time activated CD-ROM's that will give them a time advantage over later purchasers. Downloaders won't stand a chance. The CD-ROM is immediately available from every chain store in existence for only $9.95. Wal-Mart, who paid the most, are selling special edition copies with a full 3 second advantage over competing retailers. A 3-for-1 stock split is expected to be announced for most entities by mid-afternoon.
Companies will trade as, for example, Microsoft SQL Server Inc., Windows3.1 Inc., Windows95 Inc., Windows95a Inc. The FUD office bundles, having effectively beaten the daylights out of everyone already, will be *unbundled*, there will be no Microsoft Office, only Microsoft Word Inc. Microsoft Interactive Barney Inc. is expected to be a huge hit amongst the younger day traders as is the company that sells that weird kid's mouse thing. Empower the consumer! We all know what the Jesuits says about kids up to the age of 7. The $12b (or so .. give a take a few billion) cash stash currently in the bank will be divided fairly amongst the few hundred clones to spend on "stuff". In the interest of personal health and safety, a limit has been set on the number of Jolt that can be purchased per day. All spun-off companies will receive copies of all source-code. Specially developed automated negotiation systems have been developed to ensure smooth trading transactions between the hundred companies. Access to the code-sharing service is being offered to the Open/Free Source community for only $1,000 subscription per annum, or $10,000 if you want it all on CD-ROM. Documentation and support is a little extra. SQ., please ask your "server" for assistance.
At least for the foreseeable future, all teams will remain in their current geographic domains, Bill Gates, the generous philanthropist that he is, has purchased the Redmond campus for an undisclosed cash amount and donated it, appropriately, to the Gates Learning Foundation. Companies have reportedly already signed lease and maintenance agreements to minimise the potential disruption.
In an effort to keep those consumers most carpetbagged by the proceedings of April 1st happy, and grinning from ear-to-ear with all sorts of free stuff, Windows2000 beta SP-2a Inc. will publicly list on the 2nd of April. The first 10m downloaders of the 163Mb install package will receive a free share in the company, and a special discount on a hamper of Microsoft goodies, otherwise available only through the official Microsoft store in Redmond. "Microsoft Trader" is expected to be bundled with the product, all company clones reserving the right to bundle whatever innovations they want and can get their hands on for a fair price, usually nothing in this marketplace.
What happens to Bill Gates? Well whip out your copy of Microsoft Excel and
work it out. 100x3x$80B isn't too shabby for a days work these days. His is,
after all, the "best job in the world". A special web site,
HowRichCanBillGetonApril1st.com has been prepared to enable novice
"knowledge age" punters place bets on various guesst submissions. It is
reported, that having finally completed his work at http://www.microsoft.com
(has anyone checked to see if they're all still all in Redmond or whether
they've perhaps leased an otherwise mothballed US Carrier Group and taken a
very slow boat to China?) Bill Gates intends to pursue various personal
hobbies. One new found passion is mass producing space satellites, picked up
from buddy and co-founder of Teledesic, Craig McCaw. A 4,000 satellite
launch to secure mining rights on asteroids is not out of the question when
you have $1T to spend. The slogan for the vision is "A Portal into every
Asteroid".
Great software is all in the mind.
Dave
[Durban, South Africa]