But Cory, you're one of the most avid, addicted fetishists I know! It's a big part of what makes you interesting.

Life is more obsessive (and the sacrifices more extreme) on the fringes of society. You're somewhere out there along the fringe too, even if you don't get laid as much as a faux Marvel superhero.

So, what will it be? Smarts or happiness? Got a pencil?!

Is trying for both a compromise? Probably. Ah well.

Wow. It's not that the post is sad, it's just that it comes from a point so far outside my experience.

Smarts or happiness, well, maybe that's the choice, but I think that living too far on the fringe implies a lack of smarts.

" . . . living too far on the fringe implies a lack of smarts."

Nahhh! I know plenty of smart people, some way smarter than me, way out on the fringe.

They may have a lack of something, but it isn't smarts, or creativity.

Oh hey, don't get me wrong, there's nothing like the fringe for raw, unadulterated, gienus, but maybe I see smarts as something more earthly than that. More like a reptile instinct, or a blending/thriving/passing on the DNA kind of thing.

Edited by author 05-28-2003 04:38 PM
"...living too far on the fringe implies a lack of smarts."

Hardly a lack of smarts... sometimes a lack of wisdom.

Society needs people who live out on the fringe / bleeding edge... They drive our technology and create our culture, even though their efforts are often watered down / repackaged / remarketed before they hit the mainstream.

The question is, can you live on the fringe and live a happy life? A balanced life? A life of wisdom?

Perhaps, but it's harder to do. Being on the edge requires an obsessive level of time and dedication that usually interferes with what ordinary people consider "getting a life".

Oftentimes, these fringe dwellers are obsessive about both their craft and their fun too, which puts them in a dangerous position...

Every year at Baycon, they give an award to the most obsessive volunteer. The award is named after a previous volunteer who partied so hard at one of the Friday night events that his heart stopped. Fortunately, there were ERT people nearby. He was resuscitated, rushed to the hospital, had his stomach pumped, and was put in the hospital for a day. He returned to the convention on Sunday evening and Monday in order to attend the closing events for the convention and to finish his volunteer time.

If you look closely enough, you can easily spot the telltale signs of roadrash on the asphalt. Life welcomes careful drivers.

An early draft of my message below suggested that what was lacking on the fringes was wisdom and insight and perhaps a sort of self-honesty, but I edited it out. :-)

"More like a reptile instinct, or a blending/thriving/passing on the DNA kind of thing."

Or, bringing things up to the mammalian / human level, helping build a society where kids, even if they be others's kids, can thrive. Bohemias are cool, and utterly necessary, but you don't want to bring kids up there.

I'm a big fan of a quip Bruce Sterling came up on a online chat about his visit to Burning Man:

"Real futurists have kids."

There were noticably more children at Burning Man last year, but then, there was more of everything.

Danny, beautiful post, thanks.

Real futurists have kids?!

First off, he must not have visited Kidsville... but besides the fact that it sounds like a clever quip, it's a pretty daft, pro-breeder, heterosexist thing to say -- and I usually agree wholeheartedly with Sterling on most matters.

Yes, having children can make one think more of the future and possibly act more to make the future better for one's offspring, but those who don't leave genetic descendents still leave the world with their work, their ideas, and their ideals... all of which they want to be defended and to mean something after they're gone.

There are a lot of ways to buy into and create a vested interest in the future, if only to help make the world better for those who come after you -- sperm deposits are *not* required.

Mark Fraft writes:

it's a pretty daft, pro-breeder, heterosexist thing to say

Two things:
About the pro-breeder bit:
Nuture not nature.

About the heterosexist bit:
http://www.gayspermbank.com/

Like there's something wrong with saying something heterosexist? Heterosexuality is normal and good.

heterosexist eh? mom's a lesbian, so i guess it's a crying shame i never got to be born.

El Kabong- it's normal, but i don't know that it's "good". there's certainly a lot of it to go around.

regarding living on the fringe: if you pack up your things and move on out to the fringe there's something terribly wrong with you. you belong when the first time you visit the fringe feels like the first time you've ever come in from the cold in your life. if that's where you belong, it's stupid to look from community somewhere else. you'll never like your friends, and they'll always suspect there's something wrong with you.

Nature defines what is normal, and if there is one clear lesson from nature, it's that one size does not fit all. In the context of nature, homosexuality is every bit as normal as heterosexuality. If it weren't for nature's exceptions to the rule, humanity wouldn't even exist.

And as far as heterosexuality being good (presumably as opposed to homosexuality), that's like saying that vanilla is good as opposed to chocolate. Couldn't both be good... or bad... or simply a matter of personal taste?!