Watch live streaming video from pdf2011 at livestream.com
in an extra-ordinary talk (not presentation) - found via boing boing - jim gilliam says the following: (but watch the 12m 08 sec video, its much better - ps - I had to provide an email to watch all of it)
- movements need stories, tools and faith - and he wants to talk about faith.
- his background - born again @ 8 putting his faith in jesus, home schooled, an interest in computers @ 12 - what was great was being judged by brain not age - then christian college, but then he got cancer, then his mum also, he survived, she didn't, family survived, his faith didn't.
- then he moved to boston, new start, then the cancer came back, needed bone marrow donor, chemo treatment hammered him, he almost died a couple of times, donor eventually found, 2 weeks later walks out of hospital replenished by the donation of a stranger.
- determined to move on with life, 9/11 awoke the activist in him, helped make a film on afghanistan that changed perceptions on the war, all co-ordinated thru the internet, holy crap! this stuff works - faith restored, not faith in god, but faith in people connected through the Internet.
so - he went on to do things by telling stories and connecting people thru the internet
then - he ran out of breath - again - needed a double lung transplant (due to chemo damage to lungs) - but he didn't meet the criteria - he was really pissed at this - so blogged about it, in response emails start going to the hospital criticising,(e.g. you only do easy surgery to make your stats better), so he gets an appointment
he meets with the surgeon who has been forwarded the emails, institutions like the insurance companies tried to weasle out of funding the surgery. internet support for him continued which kept him on the list.
so when being prep'd for surgery he wasn't thinking of heaven or jesus but of all the people who had got him there. most of whom he hadn't met - and that that interconnectivity would be represented in his own body, all those different people virtually and physically coming together to keep one human living
and that is when he truly found god - humanity connected is god
he says the truth is we all owe our lives to countless people we will never meet, internet gives us a small opportunity to repay a small part of that debt. today we are the creators who each have a part in creating the kingdom of god. we have faith - people connected can create a new world
jim says in conclusion - i have faith in god, i believe in people, and the internet is my religion
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