Yeah, I was a big Dead Head in the 80's and loved JPB for what he had done with Bob Weir and the rest of the band.
Years later I learned about the EFF as part of diving deep into tech in general. It took me another five or so to put together the fact that the JPB I knew and loved was the guy who started the EFF. It felt neat to have my past and present collide a little like that.
Man, the interview was kinda hard to read, but that statement destroyed me. What a moving tale. Makes me want to believe in the afterlife just so he could be reunited with her
Such a wonderful story, and one I hope we all get a chance to relate to at some point in our lives. His last descriptions of the sky and how heaven might look reminded me of this part from a poem by Jacques Prevet:
Our Father who art in heaven
Stay there
And we'll stay here on earth
Which is sometimes so pretty
So, someone else who thinks that sometimes they can see souls in the light of beings’ eyes.
At least I know I’m not the only crazy person. Sadly it is entirely unprovable to others. It would be like trying to prove to someone who’s never eaten chocolate before, that chocolate is this totally awesome thing. (And what is chocolate, really, but an entirely subjective sublime experience?)
Funny thing, though, that I can say about it (and which is entirely in agreement with his account)... If you ever manage to see theirs, they will be able to see yours, too.
Rest easy, JPB. You’re hopefully back with your tribe.
I was at the 1993 NeXT Expo and remember seeing JPB. Never quite understood his background at that time. But was intrigued by his connection to Steve Jobs and NeXT.
This is an incredible story. Strangely enough this is what John Perry Barlow shared on Instagram last December: “I met my precious granddaughter today. She feels inexplicably familiar to me.”
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/74/transcript#act3