http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Reffin_Smith
“There is a mine, a treasure trove, a hoard – I cannot emphasize this too strongly – of art ideas that emerged in the early decades of computer art that still have not remotely been explored. We know how this happens. The next big thing comes along and the Zeitgeist has its demands: things get left behind…”
I think I am still back there with all that Psybernet was to be, there is a treasure trove of ideas on cyberspace and what it is to be online that we discussed in psyber-l and that were discussed back in the early 90’s that is there to be re-visited, built on.
For example, Mark Zukerberg is a sysop. He has designed a BBS really and all the literature about the roles and the principles, the ethics were as alive around early BBSs as they are today. The bare bones of the systems made it easier to reflect, time went more slowly, it too time to download posts. The reflections from back then have not gone to waste, they are a treasure trove.