| Revision as of 16:38, 12 July 2005 editEmerman (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users2,679 editsm introduce reference to abbreviation so as to remove redundant wikilinking to artificial intelligence← Previous edit | Revision as of 17:03, 12 July 2005 edit undoEmerman (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users2,679 edits add 2 articles to References. Note that Wired News and Wired magazine are slightly different parts of same company - the mag has "issue" numbersNext edit → | ||
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| * ''] discussion''. Retrieved Jul. 12, 2005. | * ''] discussion''. Retrieved Jul. 12, 2005. | ||
| * Boutin, Paul (July 2005). ''Wired magazine issue 13.07''. Retrieved Jul. 12, 2005. | * Boutin, Paul (July 2005). ''Wired magazine issue 13.07''. Retrieved Jul. 12, 2005. | ||
| * Dibbell, Julian (], ]). ''Feed magazine''. Retrieved Jul. 12, 2005. | |||
| * ''MetaFilter discussion''. Retrieved Jul. 12, 2005. | * ''MetaFilter discussion''. Retrieved Jul. 12, 2005. | ||
| * Kahney, Leander (], ]). ''Wired News''. Retrieved Jul. 12, 2005. | |||
| * Orlowski, Andrew (], ]). ''The Register''. Retrieved Jul. 12, 2005. | * Orlowski, Andrew (], ]). ''The Register''. Retrieved Jul. 12, 2005. | ||
| * Rhodes, John S. (], ]). "The Human Behind Robot Wisdom." ''Webword.com''. | * Rhodes, John S. (], ]). "The Human Behind Robot Wisdom." ''Webword.com''. | ||
Revision as of 17:03, 12 July 2005
Jorn Barger (born 1953 in Yellow Springs, Ohio) is a United States blogger, best known today as editor of Robot Wisdom, an influential early weblog. Barger coined the term weblog to describe the process of "logging the web" as he surfed.
Biography
In high school Barger specialized in math and science, but also read Freud and James Joyce. Before graduating (a year early, as valedictorian), he decided his life's goal would be to solve the riddles of the human psyche. He spent the first half of the 1970s rejecting traditional approaches to psychology, one by one, with Jiddu Krishnamurti providing the ultimate rationale for a pathless approach.
In the late 1970s, he developed a new methodology that demanded hypotheses be expressed as computer simulations, and that the simulations be refined by analyzing literary descriptions of human behavior. He called this method cybernetic psychology, or "Robot Wisdom."
In 1979 he discovered a set of semantic primes that could be combined to describe hundreds of nuances in human behavior. He called this system "Anti-Math." In the early 1980s he compiled a database of behavioral nuances in the form of a long poem called "Brainfeathers," and then discovered that the basic structure of the poem was identical with Joyce's Finnegans Wake.
During the first half of the 1980s he programmed games and educational software for the Apple II, the Commodore 64, and the Atari 800.
Barger is an expert on James Joyce and artificial intelligence (AI). His resources on James Joyce are extensive and are referenced in academic websites. He has referred to Joyce as an early pioneer of artificial intelligence and as the master of descriptive psychology. At one time Barger worked at Northwestern University's Institute for the Learning Sciences under the leading AI researcher Roger Schank, eventually departing over philosophical differences.
An active participant in Usenet during the 1990s, he wrote early FAQs on ASCII art, Kate Bush, Thomas Pynchon, and James Joyce. In 1994 he formulated an "Inverse Law of Usenet Bandwidth": "The more interesting your life becomes, the less you post... and vice versa."
Weblog
On December 17, 1997, Barger began posting short comments and links on his own website, thus pioneering the "weblog" as it is known today.
One of the first weblog controversies revolved around his strong anti-Zionist views, which some Web forum participants accused of crossing over into anti-Semitism. By 2000 he felt he had exhausted the formal possibilities of weblogs, and began instead to explore the timeline format, annotating each timeline entry with a link to a relevant resource.
Previously a long-time resident of the Rogers Park neighborhood in Chicago, Barger was living in Socorro, New Mexico as of late 2003. An outpouring of concern and speculation occurred in early 2004 because he had not been seen online for some months, but he had been known to take unexplained absences from the Internet in the past, and indeed, this turned out to be the case; Robot Wisdom returned February 2005.
In June 2005, according to writer Paul Boutin in a brief Wired magazine item, Barger had allowed Robot Wisdom's registration to lapse and could not afford to reregister it — he was broke, unemployed, and sleeping on the floor of a writer friend in San Francisco, California. Reportedly, Barger said that he was planning a move to Memphis, Tennessee, and that if he needed to panhandle for cash he had a sign ready reading "Coined the term 'weblog,' never made a dime." Barger denies that Boutin accurately described his financial or housing situation.
References
- Barger, Jorn (March 2005). "Logarithmic timeline of universe." Robotwisdom.com. Retrieved Jul. 12, 2005.
- Barger, Jorn (December 17–December 29, 1997). "Robot Wisdom WebLog for December 1997." Robotwisdom.com. Retrieved Jul. 12, 2005.
- Barger, Jorn, ed. (December 27, 2000–December 19, 2002). "What is 'Racism'?" Robot Wisdom forum discussion at Greenspun.com. Retrieved Jul. 12, 2005.
- "The Black is Back." MetaFilter discussion. Retrieved Jul. 12, 2005.
- Boutin, Paul (July 2005). "Robot Wisdom on the Street." Wired magazine issue 13.07. Retrieved Jul. 12, 2005.
- Dibbell, Julian (May 3, 2000). "Idée Fixe: Portrait of the Blogger as a Young Man." Feed magazine. Retrieved Jul. 12, 2005.
- "Jorn Barger missing." MetaFilter discussion. Retrieved Jul. 12, 2005.
- Kahney, Leander (December 5, 2003). "Jorn Barger Has Left the Building." Wired News. Retrieved Jul. 12, 2005.
- Orlowski, Andrew (July 29, 2002). "The Greatness of Robot Wisdom." The Register. Retrieved Jul. 12, 2005.
- Rhodes, John S. (September 27, 1999). "The Human Behind Robot Wisdom." Webword.com.