Pico and Sepulveda, by Felix Figeroua (1948)
"I have bought this wonderful machine -- a computer. Now I am rather an authority on gods, so I identified the machine -- it seems to me to be an Old Testament god with a lot of rules, and no mercy.
"It's a miracle, what happens on that screen. Have you ever looked inside one of those things? You can't believe it. It's a whole hierarchy of angels -- all on slats. And those little tubes -- those are miracles.
"I have had a revelation from my computer about mythology. You buy a certain software, and there is a whole set of signals that lead to the achievement of your aim. If you begin fooling around with signals that belong to another system of software, they just don't work. Each religion is a kind of software that has its own set of signals and will work. If a person is really involved in a religion and really building his life on it, he better stay with the software that he has got. But a chap like myself, who likes to play around with the software -- well, I can run around, but I probably will never have an experience comparable to that of a saint."
"Insufficient consideration has been given to the underground religious war that is transforming the modern world: the division between users of the Macintosh computer and users of the MS-DOS-compatible computers. I am firmly of the opinion that the Macintosh is Catholic and that DOS is Protestant. Indeed, the Macintosh is counterreformist and has been influenced by the methodical path of the Jesuits. It tells the faithful how they must proceed step by step to reach – if not the Kingdom of Heaven – the moment in which their document is printed. It is catechistic: the essence of revelation is dealt with via simple formulae and sumptuous icons. Everyone has a right to salvation.
"DOS is Protestant, or even Calvinistic. It allows free interpretation of scripture, demands difficult personal decisions, imposes a subtle hermeneutics upon the user, and takes for granted the idea that not all can reach salvation. To make the system work you need to interpret it yourself: the user is closed within the loneliness of his own inner torment.
"You may object that, with the passage to Windows, the DOS universe has come to resemble more closely the counterreformist tolerance of the Macintosh. It’s true: Windows represents an Anglican-style schism – big ceremonies in the cathedral but with the possibility of returning to DOS to fiddle with things. With Windows, you can still decide to allow women and gays to be priests if you want to.
"And what about the machine language that lies beneath both operating systems? Ah, that is the stuff of the Old Testament, Talmudic and cabalistic."
Welcome to my virtual home. In addition to my resume, I have included a list of links to some of those places on the 'Net that I enjoy going to, that reflect my interests.
So sit back, click on a few links. I hope you find some of the sites I've collected informative, amusing, or just plain wierd. If you have any links you think you'll like, email me.
As is the case with so many pages on the Infobahn, this website is continually under construction...
Curator: Richard Arnold
Last Date Modified: 05/06/04