This piece made it poignant that continuity really doesn't come from things, it comes from relationships. There was an HN post about how life could be defined b

This piece made it poignant that continuity really doesn't come from things, it comes from relationships. There was an HN post about how life could be defined by cohering information forward in time, and things themselves don't do that without the living people and relationships to appreciate them and give them meaning. I was part of that early IRC scene and I still have a great deal of admiration for the nominally anonymous hackers who were a part of it even though we're not in touch these days. Their various nicks and aliases still occupy and represent ideals in my mind about competencies and values, and I even still think of some of them as legends and heroes, which is funny given we're really all just a bunch of very human geeks who were funny and just liked tech. I've got lots of friends and family, but with age those things can fade, so several years ago I joined a fraternal organization to find and participate in some continuity that I could have a high degree of confidence would persist. For me, it's similar to the old hacking scene, where people become known for what they put into it and the quality of their work and it's not relevant or meaningful to anything outside of it, and the purpose is to just keep the thing going to provide the members with some source of continuity, a way and basis on which to relate, some stable landmarks, and when I'm old, those things and the relationships to them will still be in the same places. The old hacker networks and derivatives have been around for over 30 years, and they will probably still be around in some form 30 years from now, but only if you maintain them, as the t-shirts, photos, and code may exist, but over time it's their meaning that fades.