Leaving the Physical World
14th May 2026
If you’ve ever ondered what the Electronic Frontier Foundation was, here’s the story.
EFF has also been heavily involved in matters pertaining to intellectual property and reminding society of the fundamental differences between soft and hard goods. We work on fostering virtual community, promoting network-distributed communications multimedia, and educating law enforcement agencies and corporate security forces on the culture and actual threat posed by computer “hackers.”
The first half of my life was about landscape, place, dirt, physicality, facts, and experience. I now find myself trying to understand a world which has moved off the territory, where such things exist, and onto the map, where they are replaced simulation, thought, process, image, relationship, and information. In other words, information.
I have profound misgivings about this weird new place, but it has several advantages over the one in which I am leaving behind. (Besides, as we’re headed there whether we want to be or not, one might as well enjoy the ride…)