Stewart Brand on how progress happens

5 days ago (newyorker.com)

I had the incredible pleasure of spending a cocktail party seated next to Stewart Brand back around '94. I did not know who he was, but by the end of the evening I was convinced this was the most witty, empathetic genius I'd ever encountered. And I've met quite a few. At one point, astonished at his quick wit, a group of us throw topics at him, and he knew them all, and the biting sarcastic jokes about them was how he let us know. Extremely fun guy.

  • He also was the A/V guy for the "mother of all demos".

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_of_All_Demos

    • No fucking way. Wow.

      I believe that when people are in high contact with things that look to the uninformed like serendipity, it's a sign of something in them as a sensory organ, and something they are tapped into in the information environment... though perhaps we don't have good enough language to label it yet.

      Whatever a "sense of smell" is for information (and surprise, and comedy, and aliveness...), this confirmed to me that Stewart Brand totally has it.