September 8, 2003 - 9:06am -- jim
Anonymous Comrade submits :
"Santiago Dreaming"
Andy Beckett, The Guardian, September 8, 2003
When Pinochet's military overthrew the Chilean government 30 years ago,
they discovered a revolutionary communication system, a 'socialist
internet' connecting the whole country. Its creator? An eccentric
scientist from Surrey. Andy Beckett on the forgotten story of Stafford
Beer
During the early 70s, in the wealthy commuter backwater of West Byfleet in
Surrey, a small but rather remarkable experiment took place. In the
potting shed of a house called Firkins, a teenager named Simon Beer, using
bits of radios and pieces of pink and green cardboard, built a series of
electrical meters for measuring public opinion. His concept -- users of his
meters would turn a dial to indicate how happy or unhappy they were with
any political proposal -- was strange and ambitious enough. And it worked.
Yet what was even more jolting was his intended market: not Britain, but
Chile.
