IP: The Whole Earth [[ VP Gore, Earth, & VRML

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Date: Fri, 13 Mar 1998 16:28:59 -0800
To: farber () cis upenn edu, ip-sub-1 () majordomo pobox com
From: Stewart Brand <sb () gbn org>


At 4:10 PM -0500 3/13/98, Dave Farber wrote:
> Thanks to Neal Stephenson for the inspiration, ART+COM for proving it could
> be done, and Lou Stern for asking me if it can update itself automatically.
> (It does, every 60 minutes.)" Independent inventions happen, spokesmen may
> not know where their boss got a good idea, and it is nice to have a VP who
> likes most computer tech except encryption.  Still, I wonder whose
> inspiration this was, especially given the feds' new found fanaticism on
> intellectual property.  Maybe credit ought to go where it's due?


I pushed for the color photo of Earth before its existence, back in January
of 1966---my first media event.  Hence the "Whole Earth" catalogs, etc.  I
wrote somewhere about live satellite imagery probably in early 70s.


Years along, I learned that FRED HOYLE said that photographs of the earth
from space would change humanity---he wrote that in...   1947.


Hats off to Gore.  Ideas are easy.  Doing it takes doing it.