h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Man, Woman, Child, Celebrity AND ME!

Posted Jan 12, 2003

It's a major pastime of humans in general to be interested in other humans. Whether it's dicussing 'the greatest brits' (as the BBC did late last year) or talking about the storyline to 'neighbours' it seems the tribal instinct draws us to place ourselves together under certain catagories. As the world grows ever larger and the global community once again tries to bring us together those tribal urges lead us ever onwards to help us feel like we belong. Where as in the distant past we would have found our place in our small, local communities quite easily, nowadays we grasp for some recognition through the medium of fame more than anything else, and as the global community increases in stature that fame becomes harder to get hold of. The recent popularity of fly on the wall type shows (big brother being the most prolific) further outlines this. Now it seems everyone can have that ounce of fame we all feel we have a right too. This is all well and good, and as andy warhol said someday EVERYONE will only have 15 minutes of fame, but just as warhol saw the proliferation of a mass produced, throw away society the craze was just beginning. It seems now impossible to be famous when you have actually acheived something of extreme merit. Ask the person on the street to name five famus people from any time and i'm guessing you'll hear the name 'robbie williams' more than you'll hear the name 'socrates' which is a huge, huge problem. In compiling a list of dons (take a peek at my first guide entry) maybe the emphasis on fame will be shifted to it's rightful position. Where members of society are praised for pushing forward the boundaries of humanity rather than having their tiny, insignificant slice of popularity in this ever changing, ever more mass produced world....


On top of commenting on the boring fame grabbing members of modern society i also have many subjects which keep me occupied:

Daniel Rourke is my given name, although it's not the only thing i get called. Deeply embedded in the locked filing cabinet, in the disused lavatory of my soul is one certain man who still to this day brings me immense please and equal direction to my thoughts. without the late great douglas adams not only would i not be able to write on this site, but the course of my life would be vastly different.

when i'm not commenting on society and praising douglas adams i can be found:
-listening to music of many varieties. anything from duke ellington to prince, steely dan to stevie wonder floats my boat
-watching cult movies (i love japanese anime and horror movies in particular)
-reading science fact and fiction
-playing the ancient japanese board game known as 'GO' (a game which needs praising more than it gets in the west go sign up at http://login.yahoo.com/config/login?.src=ga&.intl=&.partner=&.done=http%3a//games.yahoo.com/games/login2%3fpage=go and learn how to play THE BEST game in the world)
-going to leeds university, where incidentally i study philosophy
and last but not least spending time with my wonderful friends and family (awww, ain't that nice)

I've known about H2G2 for a long time, but not dived into it's depths until now. Me and my housemates decided at the beginning of the Uni year to compile a wall of 'Dons' which is a still a continuing project. i decided it was such a worthwhile cause that i thought i'd add an entry here, on h2g2, to see which Dons we'd overlooked, and which Dons the rest of society didn't agree with. Hopefully if you've taken a peek at my entry you'll have already come up with some of your own ideas. please let me know....

thanks for taking an interest, if you'd like to drop me a line then please feel free, i'm always ready for a good e-mail, whether of praise, cricism or just a plain old fashioned hello
speak to you soon

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Latest reply: Jan 12, 2003