who were those utopian dreamers?

September 3, 2012 5:14 PM

in the early nineties, in the sf east bay, a group used to leave free newspapers around about the approaching cyber utopia. Maybe they had a commune, they definitely wanted the reader to come join them. I remember washy green ink on cheap newsprint, and hand drawn pictures of long haired people at computer keyboards and exploding cornucopia brain fireworks as transcendent consciousness expanded from man machine symbiosis. I also think they ran programming courses. what was that all about?

who were they?
what happened to them?
did you join?
are they still there?

I've been trying to dredge up a name, and I keep thinking 'acorn' but i don't think that was it.

I never saw any mention of zen-master-rama, so I've always thought it wasn't them.

were they a renegade outpost of special circumstances?

posted by compound eye to Society & Culture (7 answers total)

I don't know this particular group or much about zen-master-rama, but some other groups that I've encountered don't name the group's founder in their recruitment material. For one example, I mentioned Witness Lee while speaking to a Local Church member who had given me written material, ( Which I Googled to find out who was behind it. ) and he suddenly became defensive and demanded I tell him where I had heard that name.

So if everything else fits, not mentioning Rama might not mean much.
posted by RobotHero at 7:09 PM on September 3, 2012

It sounds like Mondo 2000 could be a possibility, but that was a pay-magazine. XLR8R had that newsprint thing going on in their early days, but that was just club stuff. However, long-haired people with computers and green on newsprint makes me think of Node. Morph's Outpost is another candidate.
posted by rhizome at 8:21 PM on September 3, 2012 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Was it the Kerista Commune?
posted by ottereroticist at 9:10 PM on September 3, 2012 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: no not mondo 2000,
I remember mondo 2000

but kerista might be it, and the 'acorn' i'm remembering might have been from 'abacus'
posted by compound eye at 10:17 PM on September 3, 2012

Response by poster: The Keristans maintained a very high profile which included publication of a popular free newspaper

thank you otter
posted by compound eye at 10:19 PM on September 3, 2012 [1 favorite]

I don't think this is relevant, but your post reminded me of the poem "All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace" by Richard Brautigan, which was originally printed in 1967 by The Communication Company and distributed in San Francisco for free.

I heard about this as Adam Curtis' documentary takes its name from the poem, and it is mentioned as part of the utopian cybernetic movement that emerged in that time and lead into the development of the www and Silicon Valley in the '80s (according to Curtis).

Probably not related, but perhaps there's a connection there.
posted by distorte at 1:09 AM on September 4, 2012 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: I saw bits of that doco, I didn't love it, but I loved the name. I'm really excited to discover it is a richard brautigan poem, thank you
posted by compound eye at 3:35 AM on September 4, 2012