Re: The Live Looping Community: myth or reality

["samba -" <sambacomet@hotmail.com>]

   Being of an anarchistic temperment,I'm sorry to hear calls for a strong 
leader. There certainly are  big differences between virtual communities 
and 
physical ones.The sort of community feeling available in small college 
towns 
is no longer normal for modern humans.It apperas it will continue to 
become 
less so as earth gets more crowded-unlsess something drastic happens.The 
downside of the small town community is that one tends to get expected to 
continue playing ones familiar role,this is not as bad in college towns 
with 
an annual turn over of population and cultural events,in some  small towns 
it's  stifling. Online people are much freer to try out or express ideas 
and 
opinions that they might feel more cautious about in person.I think the 
sort 
of online community that has been developing here is really valuable  in 
learning how to make technology personal.We explore( among other things) 
the 
nature of good design in this forum and designing technology well is, in 
my 
view ,crucial to our survival. As we do this in a nonhierarchic way we 
create more possibilites which can play out in other realms,not just 
artistic.