WHY DO GEEKS GO

CAMPING?

FOO &

other brushes with nature

Nature and Cyberspace: Stories, Memes and Metaphors

(forthcoming 2012)

Professor Sue Thomas

De Montfort University

FutureEverything

Manchester 2011

www.thewildsurmise.com

Early Geek

www.thewildsurmise.com 3

TechnomadsChris Dunphy & Cherie Ve Ard

www.thewildsurmise.com 4

Jon Postel (1943-1998)God of the Internet (The Economist)

Go where you may within the bounds of California, mountains are ever in sight, charming and glorifying every landscape.

John Muir,The Mountains of California,1894

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John Muir & President Roosevelt 1904

“Creative truancy in the wild heart of the New World”

Frederick Turner

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Creative truancy: FOO Camp 2003

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Google OpenSocial 2007

www.thewildsurmise.com 8

www.thewildsurmise.com 9

Surfing on the internet

www.thewildsurmise.com 10

Koa wood for typing and surfing

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Zillions of tiny rivers

www.thewildsurmise.com 12

Howard Rheingold’s Outside Office

www.thewildsurmise.com 13

SO WHY DO GEEKS GO

CAMPING?

•Balancing energies

•Contemplation and the sublime

•Creative truancy