The long now foundation today staged what is called the long conversation at the contemporary Jewish museum in SF: 19 speakers including Saul Griffith, Violet Blue, Stewart Brand, Peter Schwartz, Robin Sloan and many other big thinkers of our day.
Longplayer will be presented with the Long Conversation, an epic relay of one-to-one conversations among some of the Bay Area's most interesting minds.
Interpreting the Long Conversation in real time was a data visualization performance by Sosolimited; an art and technology studio out of M.I.T. This had to be one of the coolest art/science installations I've ever seen. Basically this was real-time semantic analysis of each word the speaker uttered.
I managed the live feed for the first three hours and it was the most fun I've had in a long time. I realized that directed stream of consciousness really suits my disposition for several reasons. First, it keeps me on task. I often drift away from the center of attention. merging SOC with what is directly in front of me keeps me present and heightens the experience of what would otherwise be simply listening. Simply listening is too boring - too easy to lose concentration. Second, I actually have a record of the experience, something tangible and satisfying. I frequently take notes on things, but they are more write-once documents rather than something to revisit. Posting the record of a live feed, say to a blog, then allows me to share the experience. The creation of conversation is what the best bloggers do. And it's something of a paradigm shift for me. That is, it's more satisfying to create a forum for conversation rather than a finely crafted essay that is then cast into the well. I prefer the ripple of comments.
To top it off I was relieved by Stephen Hill, creator and voice behind 'the hearts of space' on NPR. And we then checked out the music - tibetan bowls (made of Bronze). I actually laid down on the wood floor of the yerba buena center for the arts, feeling the vibrations pass through me, while staring at the ceiling. It was the best new-age fun I've had, um, ever.
I'll try and dig up the live feed transcript.