Being or Nothingness: marketing viral bizarro?
Hoje chegou no meu escritório um envelope branco. Pelos selos foi enviado da Suécia. Sem remetente, nada, só uma etiqueta PRIORITAIRE, meu nome e endereço (sem nenhum erro), e, no cantinho do envelope, escrito à mão, com esferográfica azul, a frase
Will tell you more when I return!.
Dentro, embalado em plástico bolha, tinha um livrinho branco, fino (21 páginas), capa dura, bem produzido, com uma ilustração do Escher na capa. O título é “Being or Nothingness” (referência a “Being and Nothingness”, em português Ser e o Nada: Ensaio de Ontologia Fenomenológica, de Sartre), mas o autor é um certo Joe K.
Numa etiqueta colada ao livro tem um aviso:
Warning! Please study the letter to Professor Hofstadter before you read the book. Good Luck!
Dentro, uma cartinha (numa folha separada, dobradinha) endereçada ao Prof. Douglas Hofstadter (autor de um dos meus livros preferidos, o fantástico Göedel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid). Um trecho da carta, assinada por “The Writer” (com aspas).
The manuscript has a reproduction of Escher’s “Drawing Hands” on its cover. Should the text resemble what its cover implies it to be, reading it could be dangerous. Had I sent a copy without comments, it might have caused harm.
E ainda nem abri o livro pra ver do que se trata. Na primeira página se lê
This letter was received recently from an anonymous sender. Could this be the first and last post-post-modern work ?
Greetings from R
Na contra-capa, tem uma outra carta, endereçada a uma editora de Nova Iorque chamada “Basic Books”, que reproduzo aqui:
Enclosed you will find a Swedish translation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s long lost manuscript, “Being or Nothingness”, commonly referred to as “The Giant Rat of Sumatra”. Unfortunately, the English original vanished shortly after its appearance and we have, as of yet, not managed to retrieve it.
I send the book to you since it is oddly intertwined with Professor Douglas Hofstadter and his book “I am a strange loop” which will soon be released by your Publishing House.
“Being or Nothingness” contains a letter in English, directed to Professor Hofstadter, which might make you curious about the rest of the book. Should that be the case, you will need to have the book translated to English, twenty-one rather short pages.
I realize this is an unusual way of promoting a book project. If you are not interested, just throw the book away, but please send a short email to notify me of your disapproval.
With kind regards, “The Translator”
“Now in English”.
Ao que tudo indica, uma campanha de marketing viral. Mas se for isso mesmo, estou impressionado; uma coisa é mandar spam por email pra deus-e-todo-mundo, a outra é enviar um pacote caro e elaborado, da Suécia pro Brasil.
As outras teorias é que é um presente de alguém que conheço; pensei na Delphine, uma grande amiga francesa que mora em Berlim, ou nas minhas primas que moram na Suíça, mas não tem cara de nenhuma das duas.
O endereço é do escritório da Vetta Labs; provavelmente o endereço veio de lá. Pensei que pudesse ser um brinde do Google, porque esse ano participei como mentor do Google Summer of Code,mas a Leslie Hawthorn disse que só vão começar enviar as camisetas dia 29…
Alguém faz idéia do que é isso ? É claro que estou indo fazer a lição de casa Internet afora, mas gostaria de ouvir teorias… 
UPDATE: Acabei de ler o livro. É… completamente incompreensível. Não sei se de propósito ou o autor é esquizofrênico, ou então tem uma mensagem subliminar / vírus neurolingüístico feito o nam-shub de Enki :-). Eu estava com medo de ser uma bobagem mané feito O Segredo, mas é muuuuuito mais non-sense bizarro judaico-cristão-sherlock-holmes-hitchhiker’s-guide-to-the-galaxy que isso.
UPDATE: Alex Sato e Renato Marques sugeriram colocar a página com a palavra recortada em cima de alguma outra do livro, pra ver se o que aparece pelo vão faz sentido. Eu já tinha tentado isso, não percebi nada digno de nota.
A propósito A palavra recortada é nesse trecho, sobre o Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (o recorte está marcado com XXX…XX)
UPDATE: Stefan (nos comentários abaixo) explicou como descobrir as palavras faltantes; basta colocar a carta atrás da página (duh!). As palavras, em inglês, são “fé e escolha”.
Pode ser ou tá difícil ?
Tags: being or nothingness, douglas hofstadter, joe k, viral marketing
September 27th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Para entender o conteúdo do livro você tem que se harmonizar com as forças telúricas, galácticas e universais. Para isto primeiro aponte a diagonal que vai do canto inferior esquerda dele até o canto superior direito para Jerusalém e dê 7 voltas em torno do livro no sentido anti-horário, repita o processo na direção de Meca, Dharamsala e Chichén Itzá. Por último aponte o livro para o centro galáctico e dê 49 voltas em torno dele no sentido horário mentalizando “eu me conecto com todas as inteligências galácticas e as compreendo”. Depois de fazer isto pode ler o livro, o sentido ficará mais claro que “vovô vê a uva”.
September 27th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Segundo a Wikipedia o centro galáctico tem entre 70.000 e 100.000 anos-luz, dar 49 novo voltas em torno dele tomaria muito tempo!
October 10th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
I have received the same book in the same package with the same note “Will tell you more when I return”. I do not speak Portuguese, so I have trouble understanding what is written on this page. Did you solve the mystery?
October 10th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Hi Stefan,
No, I didn’t solve the mistery. In the blog post I just describe the package and the book… I’m almost sure that’s just an interesting viral market strategy - specially because since you also received something identical it doesn’t come from a friend or something like that.
Please let me know if you have more details about it!
Best,
Murilo
October 14th, 2008 at 7:32 am
Hey guys,
I just received a package similar to yours (identical note, etc.). Maybe we can solve the mystery together. I’m pretty sure that it is not a marketing-strategy, it would be way too inefficient for that. Maybe some kind of a joke, or event art? I don’t know. From where was you package sent? Mine from Göteborg (Sweden).
Best,
A
October 14th, 2008 at 10:58 am
Hi Albert,
my packet came from Sweden, too. Unfortunately the cleaning maid threw the envelope in the trash, so I can’t confirm the exact city…
I would like to find out what we three have in common. Did you read / commented about “Gödel, Escher, Bach” ? I’m a computer scientist working with artificial intelligence, and I’m a big fan of the book…
Murilo
October 14th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Hi Morilo,
That was also the first question that came to my mind: what do we all have in common? Well, I am a philosopher, working mainly in logic (dynamic logics… a connection to computer science?). But I have neither commented on Hofstaedter’s book nor written anything on Gödel’s work.
What about Stefan? Is he still reading this? And if not, can we somehow contact him?
October 14th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Hi Albert,
I sent Stefan an email (he registered his address when we posted the comment), inviting him to the discussion.
Since you didn’t mention Hofstadter or Gödel, what about “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” ?
October 14th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
I am a big fan of that one, but I didn’t mention it in a publication either. BUT: In a “social network” (which is public) I am member of a group called “42″. What about you and the Hitchhiker?
Best
A
October 14th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
I like the Hitchhiker, but it’s not one of my favorites. And I already commented about it on-line, but briefly…
October 15th, 2008 at 8:17 am
So at least the two of us are “scientists”. Maybe Stefan could shed some light on the mystery.
There is (of course) always the possibility that there exists a special keyword which — when googled — leads to our websites. We have to do some research in this direction.
Btw.: I googled the book and it was published 2007 in Kristianstad (Sweden). See http://www.bookfinder4u.com/search/Joe_K.html
October 22nd, 2008 at 10:49 am
I got one of these as well two days ago, exactly the same, sent from Göteborg with “Will tell you more when I return!” on the envelope. I’m also a philosopher, but working in a completely different field (Kierkegaard) so totally unrelated to Gödel - so that probably doesn’t clear things up much! All very strange, and a little unsettling.
October 26th, 2008 at 11:46 am
This is clearly a work of the Illuminati. If I were you, I would delete this website and HIDE.
October 27th, 2008 at 10:32 am
I did not get your e-mail, muriloq (in my spam filter?). I am a computer scientist. I have read Goedel Escher Bach and ordered it on-line. I have not read about it. I have read some of Douglas Adams (Restaurant at the end of the Universe where the question to the answer (which is different from that presented here) is given). I am a computer scientist working in AI. I also have contact with an Iranian who is working on the same puzzle having received the book.
October 27th, 2008 at 10:38 am
I think I know what the cut out words are. Has anyone tried placing the letter behind the page with the missing words? (P.S. sorry for hijacking the page into English…)
October 27th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Hi Stefan,
so we now have three computer scientists / AI researchers (you, me and your friend from Iran), and two philosophers (Albert and Patrick).
And you’re right, if we put the letter behind the page, aligning their bottoms, we can discover the hidden words!
I tried it using the other pages of the book, but I didn’t think about using the letter (duh!)…
October 27th, 2008 at 10:52 am
BTW, since the book is in English I don’t see a problem in making it the default language for the discussions.
October 28th, 2008 at 8:35 am
Great you found out the hidden words! I googled them, without (any relevant) results.
But the hidden words made me thinking: Do you have anything to do with religion (religious university, …)? I used to work in a Dpt which was partly financed by the (catholic) church.
At least: On the 12.10.2008 my website was visited 26 times (!) from a swedish computer (ip-address: 90.224.170.62). Maybe something similar happened to your sites. The google search words won’t help, because they definitely do not establish some kind of connection between us (at least I think so) — if there is any need, I of course can post them here.
October 28th, 2008 at 8:48 am
I have also received the identical package - in South Africa, sent from Gotheborg. Weird.
October 28th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Albert: I was raised Catholic, but I’m not religious, and I don’t remember any connections regarding this…
And my blog was visited 60 times from Goteborg and 21 times from Nykoping, both in Sweden. The first visit was October 2nd (the peak is October 15th), so the visits came after I posted the article about the book…
Perhaps someone is assessing its reception ?
October 28th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
No particular religious affiliations on my part.
Does anyone know anyone in Sweeden?
October 28th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Hi,
I’m the Iranian AI researcher mentioned by Stefan some posts above. I received the book exactly the same as the others and have just started to decrypt the book with a friend. I’m a PhD student and today I found out that the book was also sent to my supervisor.
About the hole on page 13, another receiver of the book (Tim Roberts from Australia) believed that it represents “Nothingness”, I think its a very interesting idea.
October 28th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Hi,
I received exactly the same envelope from Sweden (”Will tell you more when I return”) and book. I am a physicist working on complex systems. I have collaborated with computer scientists.
October 29th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Hello all.
Today I also received a copy of the book. I believe it is is a clever form of “Christian viral marketing” aimed at intellectuals who have previously written admiringly of the works of Escher, Hofstadter, Adams, and such, as I have done at various times on my blog and other web sites.
As one who was raised as a Christian and then left the faith, the allegorical nature of the work is quite clear, even from the enigmatic “Will tell you more when I return!” (clearly a reference to the Second Coming of Jesus) inscribed on the envelope where a return address should appear, to the book’s closing warning, “You wouldn’t want to trade the eternal loop of your life for an infinite loop in the world of ideas, would you?” (clearly a reference to choosing faith and eternal life over rationality and empiricism.)
Overall, I’m impressed with the author’s willingness to try a new approach to reaching intellectual non-believers by the attempt at creating a faith-based logic-breaking koan. But the message is still the same: if you want eternal life then check your brains at the door.
October 29th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Hi Ironwolf,
I agree with your interpretation; “will tell you more when I return” really seems a reference to the Second Coming, and the entire book seems to carry a Christian message, including the Lord’s Prayer at the end.
But I’m still curious about the criteria used to find us. Not all of those who received the book had written something about Escher, Hofstadter and ohers… And randomly picking intellectuals isn’t a very efficient way to spread the meme!
October 31st, 2008 at 4:08 am
Muriloq,
I would be curious to know whether anyone who has received the book is already a Christian— frankly that would surprise me, as it seems aimed at non-believers. Secondly, I am a fairly outspoken non-believer, so perhaps the people who have received copies of the book have at least mentioned non-belief or agnosticism at some point on the web. Third, I was actually quite lucky to receive my copy, as it was delivered to the address of a park in my city where no-one receives mail— but the local mail carrier recognized my name and re-routed it to my office. How did the mysterious sender get the address of that park? Clearly not omniscience— the only way that address is associated with my name is that I run a juggling club that meets in that park on Saturdays, and I give that address on one of my web sites as the meeting place of the club.
So I can see at least three possible criteria: 1) outspoken non-believer (or religious skeptic) 2) public devotion to science and/or intellectual pursuits 3) mailing address publicly available.
October 31st, 2008 at 5:09 am
Colleagues, I believe we are being head-hunted.
First one to crack the code, gets the job, so to speak.
Unfortunately, personal family circumstances mean that I have no time to spend on this. If you wish to read my thoughts on the book, please email me at timro21@gmail.com
.
November 1st, 2008 at 5:39 pm
…and you’ll tell us more when you return?
November 2nd, 2008 at 5:08 am
In reply to Ironwolf, October29th,
About fist possible selection criteria, I’m Persian and therefor it was wise for the sender to assume me Zoroastrian or Muslim and I haven’t published anything on the web, at least in any other language except Persian, stating my religious ideas. Also, noting that there is no automatic text translation tool from Persian to any other language, we must either assume that the sender knows Farsi to select me as a not-completely believer, or this is not the selection criteria.
About the third suggestion, its too wide and at least the people who have signed in this forum seem to have more in common than just a public address (One can say that only people more involved in computer related fields and scientific branches try to find other receivers on the net.)
My supervisor also received the book, and his name is with mine and with my address on all the papers that I have published. And I’m sure there is nothing about his ideas anywhere on the web. So I think one of our papers has been the reason of selection. This is in favor of Ironwolf’s second suggestion.
A Question: Is there any woman among us? As far as I know all the names belong to men, am I wrong?
November 4th, 2008 at 6:59 am
I believe the author of the book is Lennart Frantzell.
.
November 7th, 2008 at 3:53 am
I also received the book under the same circumstances. I work in AI.
I also note that the author’s name, “Joe K” is an anagram of “Joke” and if you say “Joek” in English, it sounds like “Joke”.
The whole thing strikes me as rather ‘wanky’.
November 9th, 2008 at 1:02 am
@CaneToad: is you speculation about the author based only on the contents of p. 8, or do you have more to go on than that?
@Ben: Joseph Knecht is the main character of the Glass Bead Game (so there is that possibility too).
November 10th, 2008 at 6:12 am
I am in neuroscience and received a copy of the book under the same circumstances. In response to Ironwolf, I consider myself to be a Christian. In response to Ramin, I am female. And in response to Ben I note that the main character in Kafka’s quirky novel “The Trial” is named simply Josef K. I suspect that is more likely than a play on the word “joke”. My only publication that mentions AI uses the abbreviation to stand for anterior insula, although I expect some search engine looking for papers on AI could well have turned up my name. That makes a good joke right there.
November 12th, 2008 at 9:30 am
I just got this. I’ve not read it yet but my first assumption was that it was some sort of publicity stunt - though quite a convoluted one.
I work in artificial intelligence, but I did maths and philosophy as an undergraduate. I don’t recall ever particularly mentioning or praising Hofstadter’s work - at least not anywhere on the Internet.
November 14th, 2008 at 11:22 am
I’m another recipient. I’m a cognitive scientist, went to Indiana University, took one class with Doug Hofstadter and knew him slightly 10 years ago. I have a small internet presence concerned with matters metaphysical and cognitive, and with links into Eastern philosophy. Does that shed any further light?
November 15th, 2008 at 7:01 am
Hello Stefan,
Five different reasons pointed to Lennart - but they were all circumstantial.
I now believe I’ve discovered the person who actually sent the books, and they really do live in Gothenberg, Sweden (from which the packages were mailed). I assume they are also the author; I’ve emailed the person to check (their first name has 3 letters, which is the only clue I’m willing to give at this point). They may not reply, of course….
November 15th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Hi All,
I first received the book some time ago and was intrigued but did little about it. I came across your creative interpretations on the same day I received a follow up message from the translator (or so he claimed). Coincidence or what? He also wrote, “I try to lead a decent, responsible life and the last thing I would want is to be reminded that I was the one who found the book you hold in your hand”…maybe we should respect this wish… Perhaps an oblique reply to the cane toad?
November 15th, 2008 at 11:21 am
I got it too. I studied at Indiana University in the early 90´s and took a class with Doug Hofstadter, who I also knew slightly beyond that. I have mentioned his influence on my ideas on the web. I´m a practicing cognitive scientist, and have no religious affiliation though I have expressed my abiding interest in Eastern contemplative traditions.
November 15th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Hi Cane Toad:
I may have followed that lead already. Is this based on the Stockholm library? You said you e-mailed the person to Check, are you Sure you are Linked to the right one?
November 15th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
I got this package too. One thing crazy about it, is that it was actually addressed to Jose Arguelles. From the foundation for the law of time. I just assumed that it was a marketing ploy for another book coming out. hence the tell you more when i return.
Is something we have in common have anything to do with the Mayan Calendar?
November 16th, 2008 at 7:34 am
Hi Stefan,
Since the author is, I’m sure, monitoring this blog, I’d prefer to take this conversation offline. Email me at timro21@gmail.com if you want to know more.
November 16th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Video link http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4810306213580013228
Despite being fan of Hofstadter, Adams and an atheist, I am disappointed not to have received this book.
As far as I can tell, the book + mailing is just the work of a religious loony. It could possibly be an ineffective ruse to trap intellectuals into religion, but I think unlikely.
November 17th, 2008 at 6:56 am
Cane Toad,
What difference does it make whether the author reads our conversation? Is there some dreadful conspiracy you’ve uncovered that we’re better off not knowing about?
November 17th, 2008 at 8:20 am
Hi Ironwolf,
Yes, the way I figure it, it’s like Big Brother. We’re all killed off one by one, and the last one surviving gets control of Google.
November 18th, 2008 at 8:18 am
Dear All.
There are three questions regarding the book: Who wrote/sent the book? Why are we selected? and What does the book say.
Most of the discussion thus far has been related to the first two questions and there is very little about the last one. Hasn’t anybody found anything new in the book or followed any of the leads that are mentioned in the book, e.g. has anyone read any of the texts cited there and found anything revealing something?
November 24th, 2008 at 8:48 am
I have also received the book. I am an astrophysicist, and have no interest in religion (and have no connection to Hofstadter). I was wondering if everyone has different cut out words in their copies of the book. I have only one cut out word, and a reference by Stefan above to cut out WORDS piqued my curiosity.
November 26th, 2008 at 5:19 am
Anyone who’s interested in taking a look at the Swedish version of this book, Varat eller Intet can see a PDF version of it here.
November 26th, 2008 at 5:22 am
I didn’t see any words cut out in this copy, by the way.
November 26th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
I just got my copy, and recognized the references from the book people note on this blog, suggesting there is some cultural commonality to us. I am in human-centered computing at the National Science Foundation, and have published extensively on religion. I immediately sent a message to a Joe K whom I know, and who would be quite capable of creating this, although the theory that this is some kind of viral religious activity seems plausible. Except for page 20, the content does not look religious to me at all, however. Conan Doyle tried to find scientific truth in spiritualism, and the tone of the book is existentialist. I might have expected to see Zen references, but I have not yet discerned any. Religion aside, I must say I tend to agree with the perspective expressed by Joe K!
November 28th, 2008 at 6:28 am
Going on the theory that this represents a puzzle to be solved, rather than religious activity, if different people have different words cut out of their copy, perhaps we have to solve and exchange our cut out words for the puzzle to be solved.
November 28th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Seleya: it seems that all books have the same words missing. If you place the Hofstadter’s letter behind the page, aligning the bottom, you’ll find the missing words (”faith and choice”).
November 28th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Professor Doug Hofstadter has very kindly replied to my email. I hope he will not mind me quoting the relevant part of his response:
“I have nothing whatsoever to do with the book, in any way, shape, or form. Its author is a Swedish psychiatrist (I believe that’s his profession, anyway), and for his own very personal reasons, he undertook to write this book and to contact me many many times (I replied extremely minimally one time about two years ago) and then to print it and distribute it all over the place. I have no idea what the book is about or why he’s doing all this.”
December 3rd, 2008 at 4:57 pm
In the Sweedish copy posted above (thanks for the link), the missing words are not missing, and the words are: “da’tid och framtid”. I think these are “past” and “future”, which I always considered to be opposite directions within the same dimension…then again it makes at least as much sense as “faith and choice”.
The video link was fantastic BTW (and I was expecting a Rick-roll). Who made that?
-Stefan
December 6th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Interestingly, I was at a meeting with some colleagues in Heathrow airport yesterday, and over drinks afterwards I mentioned the book, and one other person there had received one. Did any of the recipients ever meet any other one in the flesh? I thought it was a neat coincidence. Wonder how many have been distributed.
December 6th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Fred: Ben Gortzel (an American AI researcher) told me he also received a copy of the book. I worked in many of his projects, and we published a few papers together; he visited me during his last trip to Brazil a few weeks ago, when I mentioned the book to him…
December 10th, 2008 at 7:25 am
OK, I now admit that my claim that we were being head-hunted was based on pure game theory.
If I predicted fruitcake, and the originator was indeed a fruitcake, I gain nothing.
If I predicted fruitcake, and the originator turned out to be a genuine mover-and-shaker, I gain nothing.
If I predicted genuine mover-and-shaker, and the originator turned out to be a fruitcake, I gain nothing.
If I predicted genuine mover-and-shaker, and the originator was indeed a genuine mover-and-shaker, then who knows?
Hence the prediction.
Ah well, such is life. It’s a bit like a box of chocolates.
December 23rd, 2008 at 8:47 am
Hi –
I got this book last summer & spent a little while with Google until I found someone who wrote the same way & then stuck it on my shelf and largely forgot about it. One difference was that my envelope said “Will tell you more when I visit in September”, which worried me a bit since it was posted to my office in Bath, but I was (& am) on sabbatical in Vienna.
Anyway, Fred Cummings & I were in a pub & he started talking about this book & this website. I can’t actually read the main content of this website, but anyway, for the record, here’s the guy I decided was the author:
Willard van de Bogart
http://www.earthportals.com/Portal_Messenger/willard.html
I think he’s currently actually in Thailand. But some of his older writings from a few years ago sound a lot like the book (& obviously use some of the same keywords
December 23rd, 2008 at 8:51 am
PS I assumed at the time the author found me via Susan Blackmore’s list of people who research memetics. I’m not sure why, maybe because of the Zen thing. Been a while since I read the book!
http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/memetics/people.htm
December 23rd, 2008 at 3:53 pm
I received the book several weeks ago with the same message in the corner. I flipped through it when it arrived but did not read it.
I describe myself as a social philosopher. I completed a dissertation on the meaning of community using Niklas Luhmann’s theory of self-referential social systems. I think this, or parts thereof, is what links me to others on the book distribution list.
I have a website and checked the search strings people used to find it/me during October and November. Several of the search strings mention symbolic interaction and complexity. The most interesting to me (for various reasons), and perhaps most relevant to this group, is “according to symbolic interactionists what is meaning.”
I really enjoy Douglas Adams’ work, and just happened to re-watch the old BBC television version of Hitchhikers Guide the other day, before finding this blog.
About me…I am an Assistant Professor in the School of Environmental Planning at the University of Northern British Columbia, located in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada.
January 5th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Well, I’ve got one too, now. It is postmarked 21 Dec 2008 in Goeteborg.
To complicate your analysis of the affair I offer this: I am a physicist working in biology. I am mostly a technology developer/inventor. I left the UW a couple of years ago to finish writing a book and launch a start-up. Long, long ago I did neurophysics in blowflies. During a very slow week a couple of years ago I wrote a blog post about “Cosmological Eschatology”, but that is as close to AI and philosophy as it gets.
I’ve no insight as to what the hell is going on.
January 6th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
I was recently living in Indiana, and I am a computer scientist.
I don’t understand why the sender would have spent so much time to find out our private mail addresses. It seems to be a lot of menial work.
Or more plausibly, we might be the people who just come up as results on a search query. My resume is online, and the address on the envelope is only listed in that resume.
I suggest one of the search terms is “cognitive science” or “philosophy of mind”.
The sender is probably trying his/her skills in “memetic engineering”. Well good luck to you in your next project. You were able to connect us somehow, good for you. I hope you stick to book marketing, and don’t use it for an evil purpose next time.