"Heritage" poem

Heritage

What is Africa to me:
Copper sun or scarlet sea,
Jungle star or jungle track,
Strong bronzed men, or regal black
Women from whose loins I sprang
When the birds of Eden sang?
One three centuries removed
From the scenes his fathers loved,
Spicy grove, cinnamon tree,
What is Africa to me?

So I lie, who all day long
Want no sound except the song
Sung by wild barbaric birds
Goading massive jungle herds,
Juggernauts of flesh that pass
Trampling tall defiant grass
Where young forest lovers lie,
Plighting troth beneath the sky.
So I lie, who always hear,
Though I cram against my ear
Both my thumbs, and keep them there,
Great drums throbbing through the air.
So I lie, whose fount of pride,
Dear distress, and joy allied,
Is my somber flesh and skin,
With the dark blood dammed within
Like great pulsing tides of wine
That, I fear, must burst the fine
Channels of the chafing net
Where they surge and foam and fret.

Lord, forgive me if my need
Sometimes shapes a human creed.
All day long and all night through,
One thing only must I do:
Quench my pride and cool my blood,
Lest I perish in the flood.
Lest a hidden ember set
Timber that I thought was wet
Burning like the dryest flax,
Melting like the merest wax,
Lest the grave restore its dead.
Not yet has my heart or head
In the least way realized
They and I are civilized.

Ted Nelson "Computer Lib/Dream Machines"

Computer Lib/Dream Machines summary1

Ted Nelson had changed the modern history of understanding media and the computer through inventing new multifunctional and personal computer thinking that is depicted in his book “Computer Lib/Dream Machines.” As a philosopher and a computer scientist, Nelson believed that personal computing can be a linkage between all sorts of media as long as the human memory is involved such as art, science, music, literature, and society. He believed that the human brain can operate without following a certain routine or specific typical way of thinking. From there, Nelson started giving other meanings to what he called Hypertext or Hypermedia. His theory implies that humans have the choice to understand and react to non sequential spontaneous scripts in different ways.

Also, he explains that there is no pure truth, but all the information and knowledge are based on facts, assertions, and ideas that we take for granted as the truth and document it in the form of text. Therefore, a lot of these facts and knowledge should be stored and saved digitally because of the many advantages. One example of the digital storing techniques is the digital branching or “Hyper” systems such as hypertext. Nelson defines hypertext as non-sequential writing and states the different kinds of hypertext such as the collateral, fresh, continuous, grand, and chunk. Nelson mentions that people are tired from reading and writing in stereotypical sequential way that is why the computer offers the possibility of using hypertext that adds more joy to the text itself. The article contains the influence of Vannevar Bush’s ideas and Engelbart’s system on the history of hypertext and personal computer intelligence including The Mouse. Nelson states the main hierarchical formats for Engelbart’s design in terms of storage, display, and language and he explains fundamental examples for hypertext systems such as the “RETURN button” technique.