michael ekstract

cyberspace anthropologist

In the beginning...

Michael hugged trees, ate wildflowers and played congas in a local men's group (except when he could get a date). He volunteered for environmental organizations with names like the Group for the South Fork. He became computer services director for a graphic design firm, but wouldn't dream of spending his precious reality/awareness/consciousness time at a (gasp!) computer...

Then suddenly...

he saw the boredom and intellectual disconnectedness of living so attuned to nature. He picked up a weird book by a 'Howard Rheingold'. He began to comprehend the extraordinary potential of computers to create a new level of social awareness and interaction, to bring like-minded people together out of the wilderness (and to get dates using this cute chat client).

And finally...

he decided that surfing was a whole lot safer on the internet than in the Atlantic Ocean (and BTW it was easier to learn computer lingo than surf-talk:-) He hopes to contribute something to the development of global shared consciousness and co-operation (but he still plans to tell his children stories with the computer off).