Believe it or not, when I wrote my master’s thesis “The Architectures of Trust” concerned with ways in which behaviour could be regulated by code (essentially) I had never read a word by Lawrence Lessig. Indeed, I remember first paying attention to his name in march 2003.
Odd then, that when I recently read Lessig’s Code cover-to-cover (5 years too late) his main argument and particularly his terminology seemed curiously like my own (even if his main interest is different from mine). There is little question that he says things more clearly than I – and even less doubt that he used the phrase “architectures of trust” long before me – but still, I’m curious as to 1) Why didn’t I know of this book? (why didn’t anyone tell me?) and 2) How did I come so close to his theory/terminology without hearing it spelled out?
Conspiracy?, self-deception?
I’m guessing: The memes did it.