"God is just what happens when humanity is connected"

June 8, 2011 11:05 AM

The Internet Is My Religion.  Jim Gilliam gives a moving ten-minute speech at the Personal Democracy Forum on surviving cancer, faith, activism, interconnectedness and the internet.

(Somewhat ironically, LiveStream asks for an eMail address a few minutes into the speech, causing issues for some viewers. The nag does not appear to verify any information provided.)

Semi-related: Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture. Jim Gilliam and the PD Forum previously on the blue.

posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul (11 comments total)

Lord, spare me from your followers.
posted by entropicamericana at 11:25 AM on June 8, 2011

(I didn't get bothered for a email)

I saw everyone tweeting about this yesterday so I just took the time to watch it, and it's great, and it is moving, but I hate to sound like a contrarian, but I wish the talk had more of a point to it. I mean, I totally get the wonder of the internet and he really can thank his life to connecting with people via his blog, but I don't really have anything to take away from it that I did from Randy Pausch's last lecture.
posted by mathowie at 11:28 AM on June 8, 2011

Does this have something to do with the Singularity?
posted by Ratio at 11:29 AM on June 8, 2011

That guy is the luckiest extremely unlucky person on earth.
posted by pwally at 11:31 AM on June 8, 2011

Oh jesus, I think I just realized that metafilter is my church.
posted by pwally at 11:41 AM on June 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

Oh jesus, I think I just realized that metafilter is my church.

The only church in the history of everything with a one-time tithe.
posted by joe lisboa at 11:55 AM on June 8, 2011 [3 favorites]

mathowie: "I don't really have anything to take away from it that I did from Randy Pausch's last lecture."

That's OK. He's testifying in his church. It's an "outward profession of faith and personal religious experience." It isn't for your benefit; it's for his.

Randy Pausch's speech wasn't a testimony; it was explicity a lecture, a lesson. And it wasn't for your benefit, or for his; it was for his kids. The only thing that beats kids is puppies.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:11 PM on June 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

Aaaand...halfway through the watching the video PDF turned off the channel? Does anyone have an alternate link?
posted by asnider at 1:06 PM on June 8, 2011

"I have faith in people, I believe in god, and the internet is my religion."

It wasn't clear to me whether the term god, as he uses it, always means "people," or if he allows for a transcendent being who is god. I hope he didn't have to lose his (traditionally defined) faith in God in order to gain faith in the community of people around him -- but I'm glad he found that community.

I enjoyed his story.
posted by BurntHombre at 2:14 PM on June 8, 2011

There ought to be a special place in hell for people who broaden, blur and denature the meanings of words to the point that they lose both their power and their precision. Especially religiously-based words.

I use the term "hell" figuratively, of course.
posted by Decani at 2:53 PM on June 8, 2011

There ought to be a special place in hell for people who broaden, blur and denature the meanings of words to the point that they lose both their power and their precision. Especially religiously-based words.

Yeah, maybe they could get cancer twice, with their mother dying of cancer during the first time, and then have to get a lung transplant because of the brutal damage caused by the second round of cancer treatment. Jesus Christ.
posted by nanojath at 3:56 PM on June 8, 2011 [2 favorites]