I keep forgetting to mention this. The ever-surprising Will Fitzgerald produced a recording of Cyber-Psalm 26. This recording is worthy of note for the sound effects, the artificial voice and also for the interpretation that comes out in the reading.
Cyber-Psalm 26 was meant to be an exercise in mathematical praise symbology. Each cipher or group of symbols was meant to evoke aspects of the diachronic unveiling of divine redemption.
Like Cyber-Psalm 13, 26 was composed as an SMS. And right from the start errors were encoded in its transmission. The symbol for infinity was converted into an 8. When 26 first came out it was discussed by some readers and quite a few of the figures were obscure. In a recent twist, another textual error has crept in which has completely inverted the closing line of the poem.
So what I’d like to do is put out a call for papers at a virtual academic conference to be held on February 29, 3008 in celebration of the 1,000 year anniversary of this cyber-psalm. Since you have almost 1,000 years to write your paper I’m going to ask those tagged to only give the title and a brief abstract of the paper.
It is deliriously easy to choose my seven eight tagees because they are all ideally suited for this task:
- Jane Stranz
- Peter Kirk
- James McGrath
- Bill Heroman
- Darrell Pursiful
- Doug Chaplin
- Esteban Vázquez
- Argh! I meant to tag Tim Bulkeley as well
And for those of you who are inspired to write a paper on this topic, please feel free to share it with us in the comments or as a post on your own blog.
Please be so kind as to announce this upcoming conference on your blog.
Cyber-Symbology in the early-21st Century: Recursive Orality and Cotexting through Cyber-Psalm 26
Date: February 29, 3008
Location: TBA
Call for papers: Please submit title, abstract and a brief bio. Due to the nature of this conference an infinite number of papers may be submitted.
What an honor! I shall have to put some serious thought into this.
Paper proposal and abstract:
Why The Lingamish Blog is a Twenty-Third Century Forgery
Although many have claimed the recently-discovered Lingamish blog to be not only an authentic artifact of the 21st century, but the original source of the spiritual classic Cyber-Psalm 26, this paper will demonstrate that Lingamish is in fact a forgery from the 23rd century. Two key pieces of evidence converge to require this conclusion. The first is the claim to authorship made on Lingamish, which is precisely what one would expect in a late forgery, whereas all surviving early 21st century sources indicate that authorial intention was considered irrelevant during that epoch. The second is the absence of the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42, which were central to the spirituality of the early 21st century.
Presented bio:
Dr. McGrath is a specialist in early 21st century studies. His best-known work is his book LOST and Lingamish: Numbers and Religion in Early 21st Century Spiritual Television and a Late 23rd Century Forgery.
Hmm I have posted
http://stranzblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/cyber-psalm-symposium-for-pseuds-corner.html.
I am not convinced but then I never am.
I would rather be here
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/activities/ewn-home/resources-and-links/seven-weeks-for-water.html
I’ll bet on the Gregorian calendar having been replaced by then with something that abolishes the conference date in question. If the government of the day has confirmed by a year in advance of the conference that the announced day will actually take place, I will then submit my abstract.
But how about this for a draft: Orthodox scientific history tells us that the impossible belief drive was invented in the early 29th century. Evidence suggesting that versions of this drive were known to Lewis Carroll in the 19th century (”believe impossible things before breakfast”) and Douglas Adams in the 20th (”infinite improbability drive”) has been dismissed as products of deranged imaginations. But could the intriguing ancient text “Cyber-Psalm 26″ provide new evidence that the drive was known in the early 21st century? Or does it just prove how common deranged imaginations were at that time?
Just got home from a performance of “The Pirates of Penzance” in which the hero discovers that he was born on 29th February and so his 21st birthday was not the day he had just celebrated but would not be until 1940. Not sure whether the Gilbert the librettist intended to set the plot in 1877 (according to the actual calendar) or 1873 (according to the calendar as described in the libretto).
Oh and happy birthday, two days in advance in case I forget.
Apparently my proposal was rejected…
http://exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com/2009/02/cyber-symbology-in-early-21st-century.html
Thanks for the invite, David. Unfortunately, I have a previous engagement scheduled for 2/29/3008, but I passed your paper on to the poetry club in Ms. Nelson’s room. Incidently, the discipline committee wants me to ask if you know anything about some strange Hippo graffitti in the boy’s bathroom by the gym. Please have your father call the office to schedule a conference. Preferably before 3008.
Thought but not serious, please.