From: Keith Henson (hkhenson@rogers.com)
Date: Fri 27 Jan 2006 - 04:05:10 GMT
At 09:59 PM 1/25/2006 -0500, Bill B wrote:
Keith wrote:
>> Fascinating article Bill, especially to one of the last two people who
>> worked on the Xanadu (hypertext) code.
>>
>> Besides making several of the top spots on the first page, xanadu "Ted
>> Nelson" accounts for about 5% of the total hits on Xanadu.
>>
>> I think I have a current email contact for Ted. He may not remember, but I
>> can ask him why he called the project Xanadu if you like.
> Sure, Keith, give it a try. The more the merrier.
Heh. Of course he would remember. I clipped the personal stuff.
**************************
Hi
I chose "Xanadu" because
1. "Kubla Khan" is the most romantic poem in English and I loved it;
2. The backstory-- that he was interrupted in his reverie by the dreaded
Person from Porlock and lost much of the poem-- represents the
hazards of the creative process.
Which I hoped to eliminate.
Thus I always thought of the system as "The magic place of literary
memory, where nothing is lost."
I have always resented people who speak of it as "technology."
The technology follows the idea and not vice versa: it is an idea
for which a variety of mechanisms have been found. Or, as Hume
said, " The Reason is, and by rights ought to be, slave to the emotions."
And, incidentally, I say "idea," not "meme." Ideas matter, memes
are ideas gone bad.
Ted Nelson
*********************
[I might argue about the words with Ted in email or perhaps I can get him
to wonder in her for a bit. Keith Henson]
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