From Sex,drugs & Rock&Roll to Cyberculture ICON -the Odyssey of Stewart Brand

Originally uploaded by ddavison.

Had the great pleasure of a conversational presentation by and dialog at the Institute for the Future on Monday nite with Fred Turner, Stanford Professor of communications and author of From Counterculture to Cyberculture.

I will attempt to get his presentation up on Slideshare, but in the meantime I will append my version of his key slide which visualizes the book in one frame. (image placeholder)

Here is a link to reviews of Fred's book:
From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism by Fred Turner, introduction

Stewart Brand was significantly guided in his early counterculture days by his correspondence and deep interaction with my hero Gregory Bateson. Fred offered me the opportunity to visit the Stanford Library to read Stewart Brand's diary and his correspondence with Bateson - which I will try to do next week.

From 3 decades of practicing Bateson's process of seeking "the patterns that connect" I believe my search may be nearing a point where the patterns may be coming more visible - Exciting potential for both an increase in my metaview perspectives and the opportunity for a deep dive into the history in which Brand and I lived ( albeit in separate spheres)

In this book narrates Brand's role as the "Barnum" of the co-evolution of :

• the Whole Earth Catalog
• The Well
• The Co=Evolution Quarterly
• The Global Business Network
• Howard Rheingold and Virtual Communities
• Larry Brilliant and SEVA Foundation and now Google.org
• The Grateful Dead
• Kevin Kelley
• Wired Magazine

It's an important history lesson for all of us who have lived the odyssey in tangential ways and as Fred says: "this is history where almost all of the actors are still alive" .... and actively continuing the odyssey.

Click here to see the graphic "capture" of the Future Commons dialog that followed Fred's illuminating presentation. From Counterculture to Cyberculture on Flickr - Photo Sharing!