Barlow and I worked together in 1991 at NeXTWORLD magazine as contributing editors. One day I set up USENET on his NeXT computer at his home on Potrero Hill (on a day when Spalding Gray dropped by for lunch) and later I tipped him off about the new WorldWideWeb a few days after TimBL first posted about the project on comp.sys.next.announce. He said (to Mitch Kapor), it "sounds rather like Project Xanadu emerging from the Matrix almost without design. This could be cool..." [1]

Many people naively tell me that Steve Jobs is their hero. I wish I would meet more who aspire to live like John Perry Barlow. He was good-natured, kind, and lifted everyone up around him (we posted his "Adult Principles" [2] on all the cubicles at NeXTWORLD). He had a noble heart; he made choices in his life that were not comfortable or safe but lived a principled life and found his own way. Above all, he had a sense of the tenuous dignity of man (humankind, if you prefer) and the need to defend ourselves with every means at our disposal, including poetry and theatre. I think the battle may be lost and he may be the last of his kind that I meet.

[1] http://www.fortuityconsulting.com/images/barlow.gif [2] https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg08...