"_Utopia_ comes programmed to operate through protocols not unlike those defined by the software of computer systems. What constitutes its "software" lies in the parerga, the large body of interpretive letters and commendatory endorsements from leading humanists. William T. Cotton finds therein "A license for extrapolation beyond any of the circumstances and events of the _Utopia_ [which] is granted by the humanists' own practice in the epistles and commendatory verses -- e.g. Giles's creation of the Utopian language and samples of verse in the Utopian language."[65] Packaged with its own RFC's (Requests for Comments), as gathered by its editor Erasmus, _Utopia_ constitutes a system open to new applications. For example, the parerga accompanying subsequent editions changed, as interpretive "how-to-read-the-text" commentaries were replaced by new ones. This rewriting of _Utopia_'s software evidenced such "decentralized innovation" Erasmus even replaced More's own letter explaining the text with one written by Bude. Wootton speculates Erasmus preferred Bude's explication because "Bude's reference to Pythagoras makes clear that he had traced _Utopia_ to its source in Erasmus's discussion of the Pythagorean adages on friendship," particularly the adage "Between friends is all common."[66] Erasmus' role in coordinating changes to the text constitutes "forking," a situation in which "a project led in one direction splits and develops in two or more directions." [67] History's first "hacker," Erasmus changed _Utopia_'s code, in Lessig's terms enabling "the program to do something it wasn't originally intended or enabled to do."[68] Hackers, unlike their evil alter egos, crackers, work to debug and thus improve a program's functions. While Erasmus probably had More's permission to make this substitution, apparently he made another, unauthorized, forking in changing the title from _Nusquama_ to _Utopia_.[69] As "the patron saint of networkers," a conduit for a "networked tribe" operating like an early modern ARPAnet, Erasmus presided over an enterprise so communal even the author-function was distributed among its members.[70]"
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Infex - Type D
"_Utopia_ comes programmed to operate through protocols not unlike those defined by the software of computer systems. What constitutes its "software" lies in the parerga, the large body of interpretive letters and commendatory endorsements from leading humanists. William T. Cotton finds therein "A license for extrapolation beyond any of the circumstances and events of the _Utopia_ [which] is granted by the humanists' own practice in the epistles and commendatory verses -- e.g. Giles's creation of the Utopian language and samples of verse in the Utopian language."[65] Packaged with its own RFC's (Requests for Comments), as gathered by its editor Erasmus, _Utopia_ constitutes a system open to new applications. For example, the parerga accompanying subsequent editions changed, as interpretive "how-to-read-the-text" commentaries were replaced by new ones. This rewriting of _Utopia_'s software evidenced such "decentralized innovation" Erasmus even replaced More's own letter explaining the text with one written by Bude. Wootton speculates Erasmus preferred Bude's explication because "Bude's reference to Pythagoras makes clear that he had traced _Utopia_ to its source in Erasmus's discussion of the Pythagorean adages on friendship," particularly the adage "Between friends is all common."[66] Erasmus' role in coordinating changes to the text constitutes "forking," a situation in which "a project led in one direction splits and develops in two or more directions." [67] History's first "hacker," Erasmus changed _Utopia_'s code, in Lessig's terms enabling "the program to do something it wasn't originally intended or enabled to do."[68] Hackers, unlike their evil alter egos, crackers, work to debug and thus improve a program's functions. While Erasmus probably had More's permission to make this substitution, apparently he made another, unauthorized, forking in changing the title from _Nusquama_ to _Utopia_.[69] As "the patron saint of networkers," a conduit for a "networked tribe" operating like an early modern ARPAnet, Erasmus presided over an enterprise so communal even the author-function was distributed among its members.[70]"
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