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SAND VIRUS

I just read yet another writer who is wondering why people write virii. I keep thinking: these people have never read Wind, Sand, and Stars by St.Exupery.

In that book, among so many layers of caring observation, St.Ex solves a riddle of his day: in the 1920's, in the Sahara, the Beduoin refused to have peace with the technologically superior French. No matter what proof of might was given, no matter what deal was brokered, war would rise again. Lacking St.Exupery's prose I will put it my own way: The desert is hot, dirty, and harsh. Spending your days walking behind a camel is not enough for the human soul. But if there is war, then there is romance and purpose, and those endless sand dunes become exciting with danger.

So I'm not suprised at all that virii get written. Translate the desert into trailer parks or suburbs. If you were to ask Why virus writing in particular, then the answer is, It's mostly not. The energy usually gets out in fashion and music and most everything we call counter-culture or anti-social. Given that there's a few billion people, and millions of us with computers, any tiny subsect of antisocial behaviour would still add up to a lot of people. And what the internet does is make it possible for a single looney to reach out and touch the world. That's got to add excitement to the lonely dunes in that mind.

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