Barlow knew that new technology could create and empower evil as much as it could create and empower good. He made a conscious decision to focus on the latter: "I knew it’s also true that a good way to invent the future is to predict it. So I predicted Utopia, hoping to give Liberty a running start before the laws of Moore and Metcalfe delivered up what Ed Snowden now correctly calls 'turn-key totalitarianism.'”
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/02/john-perry-barlow-internet-pioneer-1947-2018
JOHN PERRY BARLOW’S LAST WORDS
Review of 'Mother American Night: My Life in Crazy Times'
All through his life, Barlow (known as “johnperry” to anyone who mattered to him) caught breaks: getting through customs with a life-sized head sculpture filled with hash plus a page full of LSD tabs. Or hitting gravel on a motorcycle, wearing only cutoffs and not even shoes, and taking himself to the hospital. He couldn’t wear clothes while he healed, and showed up at a university board meeting just in shorts. Given the choice, Barlow always took the more dangerous path.
Among the right places at the right time, Barlow:
Had his pick of top eastern universities (despite his school record) simply because he was from Wyoming, where few applications originated.
Forged three medical excuses from the draft, and though discovered (he used the same typewriter for all three) got away with it.
Worked with Dick Cheney to get him into Congress, but realized he was a “global sociopath” interested only in pure power. They argued fiercely, and went their separate ways.
Had John F. Kennedy Jr. as a 17 year-old summer intern on his ranch, taught him how to fly, and warned him about instrument flying, which, like Barlow, he could not master. Before Kennedy plunged his plane into the ocean, they danced together at a Prince concert in New York and got the whole Radio City audience up and dancing — and no one recognized them.
Became a close friend of Timothy Leary, after meeting him as an anonymous undergrad. It was Barlow whom Leary wanted at his side when he died, though that didn’t quite work out.
Got a $5,000 advance on a novel while an undergraduate, and instead of finishing it, took off to India with the money.
With no connections, sold several screenplays to Hollywood to raise money for the family ranch.
Wrote the lyrics for 30 Grateful Dead songs.
With no qualifications but his Dead connection, worked for Steve Jobs on a book idolizing the corporate culture of Apple, and later, the NeXT news magazine.
Co-founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation with Mitch Kapor, who diverted his private transcontinental flight to Wyoming to meet him. This was both a momentous development for the internet and a transformation for Barlow from deadhead druggie to respected diplomat.
https://whowhatwhy.org/2018/02/13/john-perry-barlows-last-words/