This last issue of Wired was a dud.

The two issues before that, though, had some great stuff in them.

In December, they had the incredible One-Half of a Manifesto by Jaron Lanier (reprinted from it's original appearance on EDGE). Lanier talks about the tendency these days toward 'cybernetic totalism', the term he coins for a variety of beliefs. The first one he lists is that 'Cybernetic patterns of information provide the ultimate and best way to understand reality. These beliefs culminate in the idea that 'Biology and physics will merge with computer science'. This merger will produce 'posthuman' who transcend humanity (per se) through technological means like everyone's favorite example - uploading their consciousness into technology. Now you may think this sounds crazy, but the cybernetic totalists take it as an article of faith.

One of the things his argument does is take some of the boogey (as in man) out of Bill Joy's neoapocalytic treatise. I discuss Joy's ideas in an article on my website.

By the way, I'm going to post about this over on Metafilter, too. You might want to check the discussion.

Back in november Wired had the great cover story on the Microsoft Antitrust Case. I'm anti-Microsoft and anti-unbridled capitalism anyway, but this article left me even more strongly convinced that Microsoft is guilty, and that the decision to split it probably isn't strong enough.