Thursday, March 14, 2013, 12:24:25 PM
Erick Rubel     IP: 74.105.168.17

DEAR DR. LEVINSON,

A PLEASURE TO LEARN OF YOUR CONTINUED CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION AND SCIENCE FICTION. I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK WITH YOU REGARDING RESEARCH, PROJECTS, FILM, MUSIC, MEDICINE AND PSYCHOLOGY, AS WELL AS SCIENCE FICTION ALL AREAS OF MUTUAL INTEREST.

SINCERELY,


ERICK RUBEL

Hi Barton - my main blog as at InfiniteRegress.tv

Where is your blog, again? I seem to have lost the URL. Sorry about that.

Barton - New New Media is just about finished - should be out by the summer or fall. Let me know how you like it.

Nancy - I'm pretty sure we've already LinkIn.

Happy New Year, Barton, Nancy, and everyone!

Paul

Hi Paul, I sent you a message on LinkedIn and am checking our your web site too . . . I hope to be in touch! Sincerely, Nancy (P.S. I love your password hint - if only all passwords were that transparent! The world would be a crazier place . . . I'm imaginging the possibilities for the financial institutions: it might create Dr.-Seuss-like chaos)

Hmm, my last attempt didn't go through because I attempted to use the italics tags.

I'm looking forward to reading "The New, New Media." Someone needs to tie together evaluations of all these things in one place, and I think you may be the first to have done that.

Glad you enjoyed Digital McLuhan, Scott - and the courses you took with Profs. Strate and Frachtenberg. McLuhan is a treasure trove, and you have a lot of wonderful reading ahead.

All best, Paul

Hey Dr. Levinson,

My name is Scott Napolitano and I just graduated from Fordham University. I was a history major, but took several courses in communications, including Dr. Strate's class on Communication and Technology and Dr. Fractenberg's course on Orality and Literacy. I loved both courses. In the latter, we read the Digital McLuhan. I just wanted to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. A year ago I barely knew anything about Marshall McLuhan, but now I have gained a great appreciation for his contributions and look forward to reading more thanks to you, Dr. Strate and Dr. Fractenberg. Hope you have a good summer.

John - Truly honored that you came by to say hello ... I hope you enjoy The Plot to Save Socrates (you of all people should appreciate it)... The synchronicity with Sierra Waters is, as far as I know, purely coincidental ... though, who knows...

Carrie - a pleasure to have met you and your daughter - please give my best regards to your brother ... Paul

Hello, Paul. I am looking forward to reading "The Plot to Save Socrates." I find it very amusing if only co-incidental that my partner in this worldline is a TT named Ciara.

Syncronicity? I doubt it. But then again, all things are possible in all worldlines...

WOW ---Your site is AWESOME! I've heard so many wonderful things about you from my brother and can't wait to meet you.....also look forward to readying your books and to finding out more about all the things you are doing.

Joey - wonderful to hear from you!!

Yeah, I found media studies and science fiction more scintillating than psychology.

More in e-mail - great to be in touch with you again!

Cousin Paul: I found your site a few months ago- congratulations on all your success' in such diverse fields. I do remember the singing & I thought back then you would go into Psychology. Any way its been a long time.

Thanks, Georg!

(And nice music web site -- www.race.at)

Paul

Great to see you here, Alexandra -- thanks for dropping by!

Tina will be e-mailing you soon.

Big congrats on your graduation!

All best,
Paul

Hey Professor! Long time, no see. It's your favorite Fordham student here looking up your web site when I'm SUPPOSED to be working on a paper... yet again. But you know me by now. :) However, though I've known all along that you're quite the talented professor, I didn't know you were also a musician... and, best part of what I discovered on the site -- that your WIFE is your publicist! So, I now know that "multi-talented" is an understatement to describe you. I must say I am very intrigued by everything I read on your site. I look forward to checking out some of your books once my misery known as final exam week is over. Also, would you be able to introduce me to your wife? Or perhaps set up a meeting? I know it's been a while you and I last spoke, but it's now time for me to move past college -- FINALLY! - and into the real work world - where, as you may remember, I would LOVE to test my skills in publicity! Please get back to me on this. Thanks a bunch!

Hey, Kate, if it's any consolation, I haven't read the Reeves & Nass book either....

And 4 out of 5 isn't bad at all!

Keep up the good work, and, most of all, your winning attitude.

All best,
Paul

Dr. Levinson,

I picked up a questione about comparing technological determinism and your theory about soft determinism. It was piece of cake and I passed it all well. My second questione was about B.Reeves and C. Nass book "Media and people" and I had no idea about that (I didn't know it was our lecture and I was so unlucky to fate it...). But it wasn't as bad, because my final note was 4 (5 is the highest) and that's a good note.
Thank you for answer about the title, I supposed it's connected with the soft determinism but I wanted to hear your answer.

You can be sure I'll read your "Kod jedwabiu", because I'm very curious about your science fiction literature.
I'm also looking forward to see your new book about cell phones, translated into Polish.

Thank you a lot for an inspiration to study harder for my exams.

Kate

PS to Kate: After you finish your course work, you might also enjoy my science fiction novel, The Silk Code, which was also translated into Polish a few months ago (Kod Jedwabiu), and published by Solaris...

(Actually, I won't tell anyone if you read it before you finish your studies -- science fiction and fun are sometimes more important than school....)

Paul

Hi Kate --

Just about to dash out of the house, but here's an answer to your question, which I hope you receive before your exam:

The Soft Edge refers to the edge that we get from information -- which, unlike hardware, is "soft" (you cannot hold information in your hand, only its containers). The "edge" is both an advantage, and a cliff that we can fall over, if we're not careful. (I think it's mostly an advantage, though.)

The Soft Edge also refers to the difference between "hard" and "soft" determinism. In "soft" determinism, for example, the elevator makes the skyscraper possible, but it is not completely responsible (you also need steel, etc to build a big skyscraper). Information -- soft -- also makes things possible, but is usually not 100% responsible for events.

I hope you get an "A" on your exam!

All best wishes,
Paul

Dr. Levinson, I'm so glade you answered my message. Tomorrow it's an exam and I have to repet all media theories once again. I think J. Baudrillard's theoery is interesting too, but it's definetley opposit to your media conception. And I can't say I like Samuel Webber with his postmodernistic way of writing about media (television), I can't understad it.

I live in Poland and I attend University of Wroclaw. Poland is lucky, among only few countries, to have a translation of your book (The Soft Edge). So we can read it at our studies and have nightmares and fears day before an exam because of Paul Levinson and his tricky theories.

I have one question (I heart it's going to be asked on the exam) - what does the title - The Soft Edge means?

Greetings and honors,

Kate

Glad you're enjoying The Soft Edge, Kate.

I wouldn't say that McLuhan was an idiot about technological determinism, though -- rather, I think he over-emphasized that crucial aspect of humans and technology. In most things he said about the media, he is probably the most original and significant theorist in history.

Best of luck with your important studies. What university are you attending?

Best wishes,
Paul

Dr. Levinson, I'm going to take an exam next week and one of its subject is your 'Soft Edge'. I'm reading and learning now and I think it's great to learn about someone to whom I can post a message. I agree with your opinions about computers,Internet and hipertext. McLuhan was an idiot talking about technological determinism.

Hey, Krissy --

Great to see you here!

And definitely keep bugging me -- I like being bugged about stuff like that!

See you soon in the Bronx.

All best,
Paul

Hi Dr. Levinson!

Just fishing around on your page. You have some great events coming up! I'll bug you to keep me posted. See you soon.

Close enough! (About the name and location of the bookstore....)

And I did spend a lot of fantastic hours singing a cappella on the corners of Allerton Ave & White Plains Road in the 1960s (and, come to think of it, on Fordham Raod & the Grand Concourse, too).

I wrote a story about those experiences -- "The Harmony" -- it was published in _Xanadu 3_ (edited by Jane Yolen) and is also available on Fictionwise.com on the web.

And speaking of music -- we've put up some MP3s right here from my 1972 LP, "Twice Upon A Rhyme" -- you can get the link on my main web page.

Where are you hanging out, now -- still in the Bronx?

Paul

No, but I did work at Bookmasters bood store on the Grand Concourse and Fordham Road from 1970-72.

I remember you as the leader of the early-mid 60s a capella movement in the neighborhood.

Hmmm... I'm pretty sure I remember you ... Are the Joel Bernstein who worked at the Barnes & Noble bookstore on 33rd Street, across from Penn Station, in the late 1960s/early 1970s?

Even if not, good to see you here!

Hi Paul,
Perhaps you remember me? I lived on Holland Ave and knew Jordie. Recently I called Jordie to wish him a happy birthday and he told me of your exploits. I was pleasantly surprised (why should I be surprised?) about your writing career; I'll look for your books.

Joel

Thanks for coming by, John.

I promise that, sometime in the future, I'll indeed sketch out a history of how Analog writers first congregated online at Compuserve, in the Science Fiction Forum, in the mid 1990s. Keep reminding me, from time to time, until I do it...

All best,
Paul

I see why you say you're busy. But I still look forward to your history. (A future history!) There certainly is a grand presentation at this site.

Hi everyone ... the first 3 MP3s from Paul's LP =Twice Upon a Rhyme= are up. Go to http://www.sff.net/people/paullevinson/samples.html ... hope you enjoy!
Having been there over 30 years ago when they were recorded - and with a cameo performance on =You Are Everywhere= - it is quite amazing to me that they are enjoying a new life here on Paul's web page. You really never know!
Best wishes,
Tina

Thanks, Carly -- and stayed tuned -- in the next few weeks, we'll be putting up some MP3s on selected songs from Twice Upon a Rhyme, right here on this page!

All bests,
Paul

Great web page! I never knew you were a singer!!...all these hidden truths :) Let me know when the CD comes out- I need another addition for my Paul Levinson autograph collection.

Alan -- great to hear from you! Glad you found your way here...

More in e-mail.

All best,
Paul

Hi Paul -

What a great site! Kudos to Tina for the updates!

It is wonderful to see how you have made the transition from successful professor to successful sci-fi writer.

I hope you remember my thesis on the Philosopher's Assistant that I did with your and David Hays help. Well, now I have almost completed a utopian sci-fi murder mystery that takes as its premiss the truth of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and introduces a Detective's Assistant along the same lines. I would love to send you a few pages or the whole thing. Drop me a line.

We are still waiting for our assignment for our second adoption for China. We are following the SARS epidemic with great concern. Hope all is well with all of you.

Alan

Paul, I'm excited that we are finally being hailed as the geniuses we are in Japan. Long live Protazoa, Trousers, etc. Hello to Tina. Are we on c.d. yet? Where can I send for a copy of this Japanese magazine? Hope all is well. Write soon, your favorite band mate.- Donny Frankel

Good to see you here, Barton, my almost namesake! (The more I think about it, the more I think it especially apt that two authors of the fantastic have nearly the same name...)

My first photo is from our cottage on Cape Cod, and the piece of beach in the background is the only place in the world I love more than New York City... I'd find time for it whatever else in the world I was doing...

Music has been part of my professional life since I was 12. "The Harmony," a story I had published in Jane Yolen's Xanadu 3, and now on Fictionwise.com, tells part of it. (And as Tina has noted on my web page, "Twice Upon a Rhyme" is now receiving some amazing interest in Japan.)

Hope your work is going well, Barton. Warmest wishes to you (and all who read this) for the New Year.

Paul

Pretty cool web site. Had no idea you were a musician as well as a scientist and writer. When do you find time to pose for photos? : )

Hey, Desta -- wonderful to see you here!

Been lots of years since that android trial...

Hope all's well with you and yours.

Paul

Hello, Paul.
I still remember.

Hi Mary --
Looking forward to our interview too!

Looking forward to our interview!! I love
Digital McLuhan and can't wait to read
The Consciousness Plague!!

Thanks, Joe --

Great to see you here!

Glad you enjoyed my writing.

Trust all's going well with you.

Paul

Hi Paul,

Hi Paul, you look very relaxed and content in your web picture. It is always good to read your creative writing.

Jonathan -- wonderful to hear from you!
You came to the right place for a second
tenor ... And speaking of which: I just returned
from a book signing in Washington, DC, where I
had dinner afterwards with Gideon ("If Leaves
Fall Tomorrow...") We sang a little bit of it
over tea and coffee... (And I've also been
in touch with Guitar Pete -- we even wrote a
few new songs). Hope all's going well with you!

Jerrod -- Glad you enjoyed Digital McLuhan. Hope all's going great with your studies.

Dr. Levinson! I need a second tenor for my acapella singing group. Do you know anyone who might fit the bill?

Dr. Levinson, I very much enjoyed the "Digital McLuhan". Great work!

Thanks for visiting! Check back for updates.