Remembering John Perry Barlow
Elder of Cyberspace
I came across this tweet today.
Every time I am reminded of John Perry Barlow, I am also reminded of those heady days in the early 1990s when I first learned about the internet and first heard the word “cyberspace.”
For me at the time John Perry Barlow personified the spirit of the age. Those were the days of Mondo 2000 and Wired magazine. The days when I got my first real PC (actually a Mac). They were also the days when the underground electronic music scene was raging across the UK - free parties and techno, LSD and a strong sense of revolution in the air. Those were the days before Facebook and Google, the days when normal folk had yet to discover the internet and it was still a playground for the geeks and idealists. It was Barlow and his writing that convinced me that the internet was what I wanted to do with my life.
John Perry Barlow was remarkably open about his use of LSD and other psychedelics, considering them not as mere party drugs, but as profound tools for cognitive exploration. In fact, his experiences with LSD fundamentally shaped his worldview, his music, and his pioneering vision of the internet.
Barlow viewed the use of psychedelics as a matter of fundamental freedom: what he often referred to as “cognitive liberty.” He believed that individuals should have the right to explore their own consciousness. He famously stated that he didn’t advocate that everyone take LSD, but he strongly advocated that everyone should have the right to do so.
The intersection of LSD and the rise of modern technology, specifically personal computing and the internet, is one of the most fascinating “open secrets” of modern history. It wasn’t just a byproduct of the 1960s; it was a foundational element for the people who designed the digital world. For more fascinating reading on this subject I highly recommend the books From Satori to Silicon Valley: San Francisco and the American Counterculture and What the Dormouse said.
Of all Barlow’s works, “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace” will always have the most resonance, for me at least. It’s beautiful piece of writing and although it’s now regarded by many as a beautiful, but failed prophecy, I think we have yet to reach the end of this story and it’s premature to call it just yet.
I like to be reminded of Barlow in these days of the corporate internet, government censorship and divisive social media because it is inspiring to remember the original profound hopes that people had for this technology. Naive maybe, but powerful nonetheless.
Even John Perry Barlow, in his later years, admitted that he underestimated how effectively corporations and governments would colonise the web. But he never let go of the core belief that connecting human minds was a fundamentally good and necessary evolutionary step for our species. The internet is just a tool; the story of how humanity uses it is still being written.
I have a strong intuition that the internet may still have a decisive and positive role to play in the as yet unrealised future of humanity.