Interesting to note that weird economies are an important part of Bruce Sterling's work. Consider the AI-Tamagotchi-directed gift economy in "Maneki Neko" in A Good Old-fashioned Future.
Interesting turn of phrase I saw today: "This world of hundreds of millions of English speakers seems in its unstoppable immensity to [the French] to be consigning France to a sort of museum culture." I don't think it took the English-speaking world (i.e., Earth, depending on how you look at it) to make France a museum culture. Every society on its own does a fine job of trying to make itself into a museum culture.
Fetishism of the cultural heritage (Score:1)
Nice little article that was. I must say however that I would have to consider it bad style to name it after a Jean Baudrillard quote (and what's more, to refer to him in the text) as he's probably the most benighted self-labelled intellectual in France, possibly farther. Not that I disagree with him, -- he spends way too much time hiding total lack of ideas or content under pythic formulations for me to even have an opinion on what he says -- he really is quite simply stupid.
It is also wrong that
-- Robin Berjon [berjon.com]
Re:Fetishism of the cultural heritage (Score:2, Funny)
But at least Italy has been mercifully less successful that France at exporting its pinheads and quote-machines, with the possible exception of Ummy
Re:Fetishism of the cultural heritage (Score:1)
*LOL*. Possibly, yes. Rhetoric Science is, after all, a true martial art.
However this year in France is one big election year (parliament and presidential), so I wouldn't count on it before 2003... in fact, I'd count on very high semiotic tides circa March-June this year. Oh, the fun it's going to be...
-- Robin Berjon [berjon.com]